A Contender for Kaiba
by Shield and Sword
Summary: A new student intrigues Kaiba ... he, however, cannot impress her. COMPLETED!
1. First Impression

Note: This is my first Yu-Gi-Oh! fanfic. Um, I'd really just like to know how well I'm keeping the characters in, well, character, and how well you like this...

Chapter One: First Impression

All of the class, even Seto Kaiba, looked up with Mr. Yamada came in at the start of the day. In addition to the black leather suitcase he carried into the classroom, he led a girl of medium height into the classroom. She was pretty in a rare way, and her brown hair was pulled back by a bow. "This is our new transfer student from Hokkaido," Mr. Yamada said. "Sakura, introduce yourself."

"Hajimemashite," Sakura said, bowing as she did so. "My name is Sakura Yaminayama. I like to dabble in the game of Duel Monsters, as I'm sure many of you do." She paused to give a slight smile to Yugi Moto, who blushed, and Seto, who turned away. "And I look forward to learning with you."

"Thank you, Sakura," Mr. Yamada said. "You can take a seat, there in the fourth row."

Seto watched Sakura put down her bag of things and take out a piece of paper and pencil, taking the cue from everyone else. Apparently, she was aware of the gaze, and she gave him a look over her left shoulder. He pretended to look at something else.

"Now, class." Mr. Yamada clapped his hands eagerly. "Let's start on the warm up problem." The students groaned as the teacher turned the over-head on. "A 12-foot ladder stands upright against a vertical wall. If the lower end of the ladder is pulled away from the wall at the rate of 2 ft/sec, how fast is the angle θ between the ladder and the ground changing when the top of the ladder is 6 ft. above the ground?"

Seto chuckled to himself. _A related rates problem, he thought. __Simple. Although the teacher had introduced the subject only yesterday, he had mastered related rates weeks ago. He worked through the problem, tickled by the thought of other students suffering from such an easy problem._

When he was halfway done, he heard Sakura say, "Excuse me, Yamada-sensei, what do we do when we're finished?"

Seto gasped as he looked up and he was not alone; the whole class was staring at Sakura. _Impossible!_ He thought. _How could she have finished before me!?_

Mr. Yamada adjusted his glasses. "Well, um, Sakura-san, I usually give the class five minutes to work on the problem, but since you're finished, I suppose you can read a book."

"Thank you, Yamada-sensei," Sakura said, and she dug into her bag for a relatively thin book and began reading.

Mr. Yamada chuckled. "Watch out, Kaiba-kun. It appears you have a contender."

Seto growled softly as the class laughed briefly before it returned to the problem. He noticed Sakura look over her shoulder, give him a quick appraising glance, and return to her book. That grated on his nerves somehow.

After class was dismissed for lunch, Sakura approached Yugi and his friends as he finished beating Joey in a friendly duel. She focused all of her attention on Yugi. "Another victory for the King of Games."

Yugi looked up. "Oh, hey, Sakura. What's up?"

"Oh, nothing. It simply amazes me how you arrived in the Duel Monsters public eye in a whirlwind. You defeated both Seto Kaiba and Maximilian Pegasus, didn't you? And beat the creator of Dungeon Dice Monsters at his own game as well, if I'm not mistaken?"

Yugi chuckled nervously. "Yeah, I did."

"I don't know you very well, and I don't want to be imposing, but may I look through your deck?" Sakura asked. "I'd love to see how a master assembles his deck."

"Sure," Yugi said as he landed her his precious cards. "As a fellow duelist, I'm sure you know how to handle them." Yugi gave Joey a meaningful glance.

"I dropped one card!" Joey said as he ears turned red. "Forget it already!"

"I don't know if I can, Joey. There has to be a law against that somewhere, and forgetting that would be aiding and abetting a criminal," Yugi said. Tristan and Téa laughed.

"Laugh it up, you guys," Joey said. "You'll get yours!" All he got was more laughs. Giving up on them, he asked, "Hey, Sakura, what have you heard about me?"

Seto noticed Sakura gave Joey the same appraising stare he himself had received. "Joey Wheeler, runner-up at Duelist Kingdom." She thought a bit more and shook her head. "I'm afraid that's your claim to fame, other than the fact that you also used to be a nobody until the Duelist Kingdom Tournament."

Joey smiled. "Dat's all right, Sakura." He turned to Tristan. "See, people in Hokkaido do know about me!"

"Whatever," Tristan said. "You're still just second place."

"Tristan!" Joey said as he raised a fist. "I'll show you second place!"

Tristan put his hands up, palms out and open. "Hey, relax, Joey. There are ladies present!"

Téa shook his head. "Boys," she said in a knowledgeable manner to Sakura as she returned Yugi's deck. "Since you're new, Sakura, maybe you'd like to come to Burger World with us after school. Yugi and I could show you around."

"Thanks for the offer ... Téa, is it?" Sakura said. Téa nodded. "But I'm always a little tied-up after school. Maybe later."

"Oh. Okay," Téa said, a little slighted. "Well, whenever's all right with you is fine with us."

"I'll see what I can do," Sakura said as she returned to her desk.

"She seems nice," Joey said.

"_Very nice," Tristan said, his eyes following the topic of conversation. "What do you think, Yugi?"_

"She's all right," Yugi agreed. "But someone else tops my list."

"What exactly are you guys talking about?" Téa asked.

"Nothing," Tristan said, but his eyes continued to linger elsewhere.

_Why would she possibly want to associate with Yugi and his ilk? Seto thought. _Someone with her smarts should have the sense not to –_ He gasped; he'd spied the title of the book Sakura was reading: Machiavelli's __Prince._

Sakura turned to look at the source of the gasp, but Seto ducked into his book. He felt more than an appraising glance this time; this gaze was probing, and it grated on his nerves even more.

Seto's impression of Sakura did not change. In fact, the only class she didn't outdo him in was physics. They had a sort of tournament as review for a test in that class, and when he and Sakura went head-to-head, he'd won, but only by a small margin. He watched her as she gracefully returned to her seat, but he could detect no hint of awe. _She's not impressed, _Seto had thought. _To her, I'm just another classmate. He growled. __I'll show her._

After school, Seto's limousine pulled up on time, as always. He glanced at Sakura, who he assumed was waiting for her right, before he got in. She noticed his gaze again and gave him a slightly bored look. He turned away. "Kaiba Corporation," he instructed the chauffeur.

"Yes, sir," he said and started the engine. Seto smirked. "For all her smarts and looks, she's just an ordinary girl," he murmured and laughed softly. He turned to catch a last glance at her and gasped.

Sakura was also boarding a limousine and the license plate said OMNITEK. She met his gaze and gave him an amused smile before her limousine drove off.

He growled softly.

Seto arrived at his mansion soon enough. He had given the direction to Kaiba Corp just to impress Sakura. It hadn't worked, so he made the chauffer drive to his house instead.

"Nisama! You're home!" Mokuba yelled as he bounded a couch to hug his brother's leg.

"Hello, Mokuba," Seto said as he returned the hug. "How was your day at school?"

"It was awesome!" Mokuba said. "In music, all of us had to play this song, and I was the only one to play it flawlessly! Then at lunch, I bought the last ice cream sandwich, and it tasted great!" Taking a breath, he asked, "How was your day, Seto?"

Seto let go of Mokuba and sat on the couch. "It was all right."

But Mokuba could tell it wasn't. He joined Seto on the couch. "No really, bro. Something's wrong. Don't worry, you can tell me anything!"

"It's nothing, Mokuba." Seto got out his homework.

"Please?" Mokuba said. He tugged on Seto's sleeve. "You have to tell me!" Mokuba put on his adorable face.

Seto looked at Mokuba and regretted it immediately. Mokuba was his one weak spot, and Mokuba knew it. The puppy-dog face could get him anything he wanted, but he used it mainly to bother his brother. Seto sighed. "A new student from Hokkaido showed me up in all of my classes."

"Nisama, I'm sure you were just having a bad day. He's probably just some ordinary kid," Mokuba said to comfort his brother. "Don't let him get to you."

"Her name's Sakura Yaminayama. Her father owns Omnitek."

"A girl, huh?" Mokuba said with a smile. "It's about time."

"She beat me, in math _and _in electronics... That's impossible!" Seto continued. He ran his fingers through his hair and thought about what Mokuba had said. "Mokuba, what do you mean, "'It's about time'?"

Mokuba slid off the couch. "Oh, nothing." He left for the kitchen, chuckling to himself.

Seto abandoned his homework and turned the computer on instead. _It _is_ just nothing, Seto thought. He typed in his password. _And I've got better things to do than worry about her: I've got a company to run.__

Above his grandfather's game shop, Yugi was procrastinating again. Instead of doing his homework, he was looking through his deck in an absentminded way. His yami appeared in spirit form. "Yugi, why are you going through your deck? You have no new cards."

"I was just thinking, Yami," Yugi said. Anticipating Yami's next question, he added, "I'll get to my homework later."

"Hmm," the Pharaoh murmured. A little later, he asked, "What was the name of the new girl in class, aibou?"

"Sakura ... Yaminayama, I think. It's an odd last name." Yugi turned to face the Pharaoh. "Why?"

"Aibou, did you notice Kaiba today?" Yami asked.

Yugi was sure there was a point to this but he couldn't think of any. "What about him?"

"He seemed to be giving Sakura a lot of attention..."

"I'm sure he was just jealous," Yugi said. "She _did_ outperform him in nearly all of our classes."

"Is that it?" Yami said. "She is a very pretty girl after all."

Yugi gasped. "Yami! Kaiba ... and Sakura!? That'd never work!"

Yami shrugged his shoulders. "Why not?"

"Kaiba's too ... Kaiba."

Yami chuckled. "If you say so, aibou."


	2. Someone Else's Opinion

Disclaimer: Whatever isn't already someone else's is probably mine.

Note: Thanks to my friend Ziggy for the reviews, and my other friend Doug, for encouragement, when Ziggy's criticisms got daunting. Thanks to my reviewers, for being so appreciative of the story so far and for waiting so long while I got over Mary-Sue-phobia.

Chapter Two – Someone Else's Opinion

The day after next was Saturday. Sakura had accepted Téa's offer, so the whole gang – including Bakura – was waiting for her in front of Bakura World. Tristan was inexplicably tense and could not stand in one place for long.

"'ey, man!" Joey said. "Relax! Nothin's on fire."

"Yeah, Tristan," Yugi said. "Why are you so jumpy?"

Tristan froze. "Uh ... no reason," he said. Then he resumed pacing.

Sakura arrived on time. Téa waved her over. "Sakura! Glad you could make it!"

"Thank you for inviting me," Sakura said. She immediately picked up on Bakura's and Tristan's nervousness. She stepped up to the first and remarked, "I don't believe I've had the pleasure of meeting you."

Bakura chuckled nervously, unsure of what to do. Téa stepped in. "Oh, sorry! Bakura was out on Thursday and Friday, so you haven't had a chance to meet him."

"My allergy medication always makes me ill," Bakura muttered.

Téa pulled Bakura forward. "Bakura, this is Sakura Yaminayama, and Sakura, this is Bakura Ryou."

Sakura gave a polite bow. "Nice to meet you."

Bakura returned it. "The pleasure's all mine."

Joey deliberately walked between the two and into Burger World. "Enough chitchat already! Let's get goin'! I'm starvin'!"

Yugi shrugged. "You heard what Joey said. Nothing can get between him and food."

Téa laughed. "Except maybe the price. "She followed Yugi and Bakura into the fast food restaurant.

Tristan held the door open for Sakura. When she paused at the entrance, he gave a small bow and said, "Ladies first."

"Thank you," she murmured and afforded him a small smile.

The booth Joey had picked had enough room on each side for three of them to sit side by side. Although the flowers were plastic, Bakura eyed them warily. He was sitting at the edge of his seat so that he was nearly falling off when Sakura came in. "Bakura, even if you are allergic, you know those flowers are fake, right?"

Bakura gave a nervous chuckle. "Of course ..." he said, and he did his best to ignore the flowers that were in front of Sakura and Téa.

After they had ordered, Tristan struck up a conversation. "So, Sakura, what brings you to Domino?"

"My personal tutor died, and my father was to leave for a business trip so he thought I could come along while we were looking for a new one," Sakura said matter-of-factly.

Joey gave a small jump. "What d'ya mean 'he died'!? Did something happen to 'im?"

Tristan was affronted. "Watch what you may be implying, Joey."

"Yeah, Joey," Yugi said. "Relax. I'm sure it was of natural causes, right, Sakura?"

"He's right, Joseph," Sakura said. "He was old and had already taught me all he could. His death makes no difference to me."

"But don't you miss him?" Téa asked. "You must have been good friends."

"He served his purpose," Sakura said.

There was an awkward silence.

Tristan was glad the waitress came when she did. He cleared his throat. "Hey! There's our food!"

"Da one wit' all da food is mine!" Joey said, and the waitress smiled as she set down the plate. Joey started on his hamburger voraciously.

"Watch out, everyone," Bakura said with a small chuckle. "Joey may mistake your finger for a French fry."

Yugi chuckled too. "Yeah, Joey. You should slow down. Apocalypse isn't coming any time soon." He attempted to pull Joey's tray away from him. Joey growled, and Téa and Bakura laughed.

"Put a leash on him and you can take him out for a walk!" Téa said.

It was only then that Joey looked up. "Whazzah?" he asked in confusion.

Téa reached forward across the flowers and patted his head. "That's a good boy," she said.

Joey was still confused, but he refused to think while there was food in front of him so he shrugged his shoulders and got back to eating, which made Yugi, Téa, and Bakura laugh even more.

Tristan noticed Sakura watching the four oddly. "Ignore them, Sakura," he said. "They're just fooling around." He took a sip from his drink, contemplating what to say next. "So ... have you seen any good movies lately?"

Sakura gave a single shake of her head. "I don't watch movies. I'd rather read, write, or devise Duel Monsters strategies."

"Oh," Tristan said. _There goes one line of conversation, _he thought. "What do you write?"

"Science fiction or episodes of political drama," Sakura said. "Playing the mind game kind of thing."

"That's cool," Tristan said. _Why, oh why can't I think of anything more exciting to say? _"Can I read some of your stuff?"

She shook her head again. "I've left all of my finished works at home. And all I've got in my bag is a cartoon I've been working on."

"That's all right. Can I look at it anyway?"

Sakura seemed to consider it, and then she shrugged. "I guess it wouldn't do any harm." She turned to her right, where her bag was, and Tristan was able to get a glimpse of the back of her neck before she turned to set the thick pile of papers on the table. "Here it is."

Tristan began flipping through it while Sakura took a small bite of her salad. "Wow," he said. "These are good. These are really, really good." He continued flipping. "It's like an animated version of Yugi's duel with Kaiba. This must have taken hours ..."

Sakura nodded. "But it's not. I told you I like to devise Duel Monster strategies, and I think you'll find the end a bit different."

"Hmm?" Tristan said. He neared the end of the ten-minute cartoon. Then there was a break in his flipping. "Hey! This isn't the way their duel ended. Yugi's _Exodia_ destroyed Kaiba's _Blue Eyes_."

"But you have to admit, the odds were only 1:20 that Yugi would have drawn it. What if Kaiba had won? I've just drawn man other endings. And I think there's a table on the back that –"

"Whoa!" Tristan gasped. "These are, like, counters for every Duel Monsters combo there is!" He flipped through several pages. "How long did it take you to do this?"

"Oh, I'm not finished yet. And these are just the results of my analysis of Yugi's and Kaiba's decks."

"With this, you could build a master deck and be world champ," Tristan said softly.

"I could," Sakura agreed.

"Why don't you?" he asked.

"I haven't yet found a suitable challenge."

"Huh," Tristan said, unable to think of anything to say.

The bill arrived just as Yugi finished sipping his soda. Tristan reached for it. "Meal's on me, guys!" He looked at the total. _Shoot, _he thought. _Why'd Joey have to eat so much?_

Joey knew what his friend was thinking. "Naw, Tristan. You don't hafta do dat. We can all chip in," he said.

"I said I could take care of it!" Tristan said. He searched near and around his plate, where he was sure he had put the bill. Across his line of vision, he saw a well-manicured hand slide 5000 yen across the table. "What the –"

The waitress gratefully took the bill. "Thank you, miss!" she said and started picking up the dishes.

"Sakura," Tristan said almost plaintively, "You didn't have to do that. I was going to –"

"Excuse me, Tristan," Sakura said. "I've got to be going now."

"Oh, uh, sorry," Tristan said. _Why am I so awkward!?_ he thought. He slid out of the booth, so that Sakura could get out. "Do you have a ride?"

"Yes," Sakura said. "It's right out there." She pointed out the window. Tristan and the others gasped; there was a limousine, the same kind that they had seen each day after school.

"Dat's yours!?" Joey said, awestruck. "You must be rich!"

"Joey!" Bakura said. "That's not proper form."

"Yeah." Tristan agreed. "Don't be rude."

Sakura smiled. "Thank you for the meal, Joey, Yugi, Téa, Bakura, Tristan," she said, nodding to each in turn. "I'll be seeing you." And she left.

Joey nudged Tristan hard in the ribs when she was gone. "Spill it, Tristan."

Tristan rubbed his side. "Spill what?"

"What were you doin' trippin' all ova yerself for Sakura for, huh?" Joey asked.

"I think he has a crush on her," Yugi suggested.

"No, no, no!" Tristan said. "It's not like that at all!"

"Of course not," Bakura said with a twinkle in his eye.

"Sure, it isn't," Téa said with a sarcastic lilt.

"Why won't anyone believe me!?" Tristan yelled as he stalked out of the restaurant.

Behind him, Joey started chanting, "Tristan and S'kura, sittin' in a tree! K-I –"

"Shut up!" Tristan yelled back.

Yugi, Téa, and Bakura laughed.


	3. The Dream

A/N: Thank you for waiting so long. I have no discipline whatsoever… I'd just love to thank you guys for reading this. After Ziggy beta-ed it, she convinced me that it was much better than I thought it was… so here it is.

Chapter Three – The Dream

Mokuba twisted the orange knob and whispered in quiet determination, "Almost ..."

Piqued by the strange rattling noise that was coming from the couch, Seto looked up from the homework he had neglected until then. "What are you doing, Mokuba?" he said. "Tomorrow's a school day."

His little brother did not look up as he manipulated the miniature Bop-It in his hands. "Oh, come on, Seto. I've almost beat my high score."

_I'll indulge him,_ Seto thought. "Just a few more minutes."

"Thanks, Nisama!" Mokuba said as he frantically pressed the green button.

The minutes passed and Mokuba stopped playing as promised, although it could be argued that he'd stopped because he'd lost. He got off the couch and hesitated outside the door to his room before going in. "G'night, Nisama."

"Hmm," Seto murmured as he closed his math book. "Good night, Mokuba."

Mokuba nodded and closed the door behind him.

A couple of hours later, Seto finished reviewing all of Kaiba Corp's paperwork for the last quarter, so that nothing could surprise him when he met with his vice executives for the next day. He had finished his homework quite some time ago.

He put away his things and checked on Mokuba, who was sleeping peacefully under his quilt. Then he went to his own room and made sure he closed the doors.

Seto tossed and turned in his bed. It was the same tortuous dream every night, but that didn't mean he was used to it. As always, he was the _Lord of Dragons, about to be torn apart by fierce Monsters._

They were chasing him, the _Red-Eyes_ and the _Curse of Dragon._ _How ironic, he thought. _Some _Lord of Dragons._

The _Red-Eyes Black Dragon _put on a burst of sped. Seto yelled as he was pinned under the _Dragon's clawed feet and as the __Curse of Dragon and __Red-Eyes together tore off his armor. There was nothing he could do about it. Nothing he could do as the Dragons ripped off his leg. His arm. His other arm. His other leg._

He felt his blood run and he blacked out.

Seto jolted awake in a sweat and performed the same mental check he always did after having the dream. He was glad to find everything where it should be and took several deep breaths to calm himself. Then he got up and checked to make sure the doors were still closed. They helped him maintain his illusion of invulnerability, at least at night.

They were indeed closed, as they were each time he checked, so Seto, resigned to his fate, pulled the covers over himself once more. He knew his body needed sleep. He just wished he didn't have to come along for the ride.

The dream was a little different this time. Instead of physical attacks, the _Red-Eyes_ and _Curse of Dragon had opted for far-ranging attacks. He ran, hindered rather than aided by the __Lord of Dragon's bulky armor, staying just ahead of the blasts of fire._

Seto yelled as he tripped and fell. Adrenaline coursed through his body as he scrambled to get up, but as the Dragons neared, he knew he would lose the game again. _At least it'll be quick, _he thought.

"I activate my _Swords of Revealing Light_," said a low, almost hoarse voice. The Dragons screeched as crucifixes of light kept them from their prey.

_What?_ Seto thought as he got to his feet. _What is going on!?_

"My _Swords of Revealing Light_ stop your Dragons for three whole Turns," the voice said.

Seto gasped when he looked up at the speaker. "It can't be!" he said. There was a giant duelist above him, and his face was more than familiar – it was his! But this other him was in Egyptian garb: he was dressed in the royal purple of high-ranked officials. His turban design was simple and tasteful, yellow and purple.

"Do you think that will stop me from destroying you?" another higher, confident voice asked. "Your _Swords_ are a temporary defense, and there are other ways of destroying your _Lord of Dragons."_

Seto turned around again and the sight of another familiar face made him gasp. "Yugi?" he said. "Impossible!" Like the large duelist behind him, this Yugi as in Egyptian clothes, but his dress was far flashier. On his forehead he wore a headband that bore the same strange eye that was on Yugi's puzzle, and he wore earrings but his ears weren't pierced. His robe was of a lighter purple than that of the duelist behind Seto, and it contrasted smartly with all the gold he wore.

"Since it is still my turn, I can play this!" The Yugi played a Magic Card. "_Raigeki_! My Monsters may be frozen but your Dragon lord will still go down in flames."

Seto hardly had time to react before the duelist behind him moved. "Think again, My Pharaoh," he said. (_My Pharaoh!? Seto thought.) "You forgot about my other facedown card – _Mystical Ref Panel_!"_

Seto stepped back as a female figure with a mirror descended in front of him and absorbed the bolt of thunder that had threatened his life, trapping it within her mirror. She looked back to await further instructions from her master. Seto recognized the profile at once. "Sakura!" he said. "What are you doing here!?" After a moment, he added, "You don't even look like the _Mystical Ref Panel!"_

She didn't respond, and Seto felt slighted, even if his dream. His gaze swept down until the voice above him gripped his attention. "My _Mystical Ref Panel _allows me to redirect your attack. And _Raigeki's_ new target is your Dragons!"

"My Dragons!" the pharaoh yelled. The _Red-Eyes and the _Curse of Dragon_ screeched and writhed behind their cage of light until the redirected thunderbolt reduced them to smoke. His eyes flashed. "Now what will you do, priest? (_What___!? Seto thought. _The duelist behind me is a priest!?_) You have no cards in your hand and only one card facedown to protect your _Lord of Dragons, _if that is, indeed what it does. On my next turn, I will destroy him."_

"We shall see," the priest said, and he drew.

_What is this!?_ Seto thought, still refusing to believe any of this. _A mad game for power!?_

"_Card of Sanctity_!" the priest said. "Both of us must draw until we each have six cards."

The Yugi look-alike drew two cards. "It makes no difference to me." He noticed the other studying the new cards in his hands. "And you, priest? Did you not draw the cards you needed?"

"My pharaoh," the priest said. "I have drawn exactly the cards I wanted. Now observe." He laid two cards facedown. "I equip my _Lord of Dragons with two __Flutes of Summoning Dragons!"_

Two _Flutes_ appeared in front of Seto, and they nearly flew into his hands. He blew on them before they could fly into his mouth.

"This allows me to call forth four Dragons from my hand. Go, my _Serpent Knight Dragon_! Appear, my three _Blue-Eyes White Dragons_!"

Seto looked left and right as dragons descended from above. He was surrounded on all sides by dragons, his dragons.

The priest picked up the only card he hadn't yet revealed. "And that's not all. I play _Polymerization_ to fuse my three _White Dragons_ to form my awesome _Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon_!"

The Dragons entered a vortex and Seto watched it, half in disbelief, half in awe, as he awaited the fusion of his signature Monsters. Finally, the _Ultimate Dragon_ roared as it stomped out of the vortex and flexed its muscle by testing its attack.

"No!" the pharaoh yelled. "You can't win!"

"Oh, but I must, my pharaoh," the priest said almost kindly. "To save you from yourself."

Seto repeated the last phrase to himself. "No," he said. "That's absurd. Because that's just Yugi. He isn't a pharaoh and he doesn't need saving."

"Now, my _Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon_, Neutron Blast! Attack him directly and bring him to his senses!" the priest commanded.

The pharaoh grunted and yelled as the _Blue-Eyes knocked him off his feet and onto the ground a distance away._

_I'm still here, _Seto thought, still skeptical. He watched the priest-him get up and approach the Yugi. "My pharaoh, are you all right?"

"What?" Seto said, perplexed by the concern the priest showed for the pharaoh-Yugi. Moments ago they'd seemed to be dueling for stakes unimaginable.

The Monsters around him began to flicker and fade. Seto looked down. He, too, was disappearing. He heard a chuckle and turned around. It was Sakura, sans the mirror, but in Egyptian dress. "You!" Seto said. "What are you doing here!? Answer me!"

She merely gave an amused smile.

He finished fading.

Seto opened his eyes suddenly; he was awake instantly. Although he did not need to get up until two hours from now, he knew he would not get any more sleep, so he made his bed. He did not allow servants into his chambers.

He checked on Mokuba again. He was still sleeping well, as he should. His quilt was reasonably mussed up.

He went downstairs to look over the critical designs for his duel disk on his computer. He did not contemplate the strange dream. _It is, after all, just a dream._

P.S. A/N: Does this maintain Seto's character? And how is the duel? Ziggy confirmed they were all right; re Seto's character, it was fairly true to form "especially considering his subconscious self and middle-of-the-night self are probably considerably less collected than the face he presents to the world…. And it is a dang cool duel." Anyway, just tell me what you think! All criticisms, reviews, and comments are helpful and really nice to read.


	4. A Symbol of Your Acceptance

A/N: I couldn't think of an appropriate title for this chapter… read it and offer any suggestions!

Chapter Four: A Symbol of Your Acceptance

Mokuba rubbed his eyes sleepily as he descended the staircase and turned a left. He spotted his brother typing at his laptop at the kitchen table. "'Morning – " he stifled a yawn. "Big brother."

Seto looked up. "Good morning, Mokuba."

Mokuba made his way to the cabinet and reached up on tiptoe for the Lucky Charms and a bowl. "What are you doing, Seto?" He stifled another yawn.

"Looking over tests performed on the second version of my duel disk." Seto frowned at Mokuba's choice of breakfast. "You know those are bad for you."

Mokuba shrugged. "I like them." He poured the milk and started eating. After a while, he asked, "Aren't you having anything?"

"I've already eaten."

Mokuba chewed his marshmallows thoughtfully. "You get up too early, Seto."

Seto grunted in acknowledgement but said nothing. To tell the truth, he always got up too early. His little brother's reprimand was merely a benevolent habit.

"Mokuba." Seto halted his brother by placing a hand on his shoulder. "Instead of driving you straight home, the chauffeur will take you to KaibaCorp. You're to wait in my office until I get there."

His little brother groaned. "Why?" he whined.

"I've got a board meeting, and as Vice President, you need to know what's going on."

Mokuba groaned again. "You just _had_ a board meeting! And I had to go to that, too!"

Seto sighed. "I need to discuss the previous quarter and plan the next one." In an attempt to cheer Mokuba up, he added, "It won't take long."

Mokuba was still downcast. "If you say so." He took Seto's had off his shoulder. "I've got to go now. 'Bye, Nisama." He closed the limousine door and faced forward.

"Goodbye, Mokuba," Seto said to the retreating car.

_This is a waste of time_, Seto thought. _I could hack through Pegasus' mainframe in the time it takes this class to do a physics problem!_  He gave a heavy exhalation of frustration through his nose.

He looked around. The whole class was feverishly copying down the explanation the teacher was mumbling incoherently and writing illegibly on the overhead projector. To his surprise, Sakura also appeared to be scribbling furiously, and he knew quite well she didn't need to. _So what is she doing?_

Presently, the teacher stopped mumbling; something seemed to have attracted his attention. "Sakura, what are you doing?"

Sakura sat up quickly, almost clumsily. "Independent study… I was working on an engineering problem, Mr. Ooguchi."

The teacher picked up a slinky and manipulated it with his hands. "Well, I'd appreciate it if you stopped. It's distracting me. And besides, independent study is something you need to do at home, not in class. Put it away, please."

Sakura gave an inaudible sigh. "Yes, Mr. Ooguchi," she said and did as she had been told.

"Thank you, Sakura." Mr. Ooguchi said. He cleared his throat and moved one of his hands, sending a wave through the slinky. "Now, class, if this slinky was in a vertical position, it would almost be a perfect example of simple harmonic motion …" He resumed his monotonous lecture.

And lost the attention of a couple of his best students.

The final bell rand at the end of Mr. Ooguchi's lecture, but the class was nearly too drowsy to care. More than a few yawned as they took their bags off the hooks attached to the left side of their desks. Students moved in sluggish clumps as they left the classroom.

Although he figured himself to be one of the few people still alert in the room, Seto moved no faster than the rest. His board of directors could wait … _Mokuba__! He's waiting!_ Seto hastened.

He didn't notice it, but Sakura did, too.

Seto strode down the corridors of his office building, toting his aluminum suitcase. Mokuba heard his brother's footsteps from inside the office and ran to meet him. "They're waiting, Seto," he said.

Seto adopted a low impersonal tone. "I know."

Mokuba trotted to keep up.

Seto entered the board room with a quiet force. The four men already inside sat at attention. "Good afternoon, Mr. Kaiba," a stocky balding man said.

"Save it, Warren," Seto said. "This is a meeting, not a social call, so let's get down to business." He took a seat and put his briefcase on the table before him. Mokuba pulled a chair next to him. "Green. How is the quarterly budget?"

The well-groomed, albeit stocky, brown-haired man hesitated. Would he able to twist the truth – lie, even – to this, this sixteen-year-old? "KaibaCorp is growing nicely." Green dragged the sentence out into a neutral statement.

Seto jumped on him nevertheless. "Why not tell the truth, Green? Why not say you've had to divert funds away from production and distribution because one of the divisions isn't performing too well?" He paused to watch Green squirm. "I've reviewed all of the papers myself. I know."

Green frantically cast about for an excuse. He looked across the table at Gates and hated him for looking smug while he himself was in such a situation. "Then you must know that the money went to Gates's department." Gates gasped. His smile left him. "He said he needed it."

"Oh?" Seto said. Need he say more? Green was already motivated by cowardice.

Green breathed a sigh of relief in his rat-like mind. _Is he buying it?_ "He said it would be easier if he didn't bother you. He said he would take care of it."

Seto looked at the thin man opposite the accountant. "Is that true, Gates?" he said. "Has your division been having problems?"

Gates shifted his weight in his chair. "A few of the duel disk subsystems have been having trouble with some of the harder action items."

"Which ones." A statement. Not a question.

_Which what? Subsystems or action items? Best go with both_. "The holograms subsystem is having problems calibrating the lights needed to facilitate the projection of tangible images. And until then, the electrical subsystem can begin to develop a program to gauge the realism," Gates said.

"So you thought giving the people at hologramming more money would help them come up with an idea," Seto said. He watched Gates wilt under his stare. "News flash, Gates: it isn't working. They are just wasting my time and my money and I want that to stop."

"So what do you suggest, sir?" Gates asked.

Seto opened the aluminum suitcase in front of him and took out some papers and a floppy disk. "Lucky for you, I did a little bit of testing at my own lab." He slid the papers diagonally to the right, to Warren, who passed them to Gates. "Set the wavelengths of light to these specifications. They're accurate to ten nanometers."

Gates was flabbergasted. "How did you – "

Seto threw the disk he was holding with his index and middle fingers by quickly straightening them and letting go. "And the program your men need is on that disk. I want to start production soon, and that means a working model for me to test even sooner. Am I clear?"

"Yes, sir, Mr. Kaiba," Gates said. He sighed with relief. His part was over.

Seto looked to his left. "What about you, Stanton? What do you have?"

The business strategist refused to be daunted by Seto's hauteur. "As of now, sir, we only seem to be catering to Duel Monsters players and Duel Monsters distributors. But I suggest that we extend our products to other gaming audiences. The creator of Dungeon Dice Monsters has recently received a contract from Industrial Illusions to take the game global. This means more dueling arenas, and, if possible, duel disks for the new consumers. We can easily manufacture more arenas, as we have filed away the blueprints for the custom-designed arena the creator, Mr. Devlin, installed in his game shop. And I'm sure the duel disk could be modified for Dungeon Dice Monsters as well. We already own much of the technology needed to create a new kind of duel disk and I'm confident this company can invent the rest."

Seto tilted his head and studied Stanton. "You seem to have thought about this a lot, haven't you?"

_This is new … a compliment? _Stanton furrowed his brows, slightly, a small hint of his perplexity. "Yes, sir…" A statement that wanted approval. He watched Seto.

A half frown – or the tug of a smile? Raised eyebrows. A single nod.

"Congratulations," Seto said finally. The word was more acknowledgement than praise. "That's the first engaging thing I've heard from you four."

"Thank you, sir," Stanton said. _I guess…_

"Now, do you have anymore or are you a one-time wonder?"

_I got lucky the first time, _Stanton realized. "Ah, Warren and I have been following several companies, and we've marked one as a potential assimilate – "

"Will any of these companies be willing to talk?"

_Let's … delegate the potential blame … _"Ah, this is Warren's specialty," Stanton said.

Seto gave Stanton a look that clearly said _weasel. He repeated the question to the legal advisor: "What makes you think these companies would consider a merger?"_

"Unlike this corporation, where the president owns the majority of the shares, these are firms whose presidents only have the most shares," Warren said. "We could simply cut a deal with enough unhappy shareholders to take over, which is – if I understand correctly – how you gained control of KaibaCorp."

Seto ignored the last remark. "And by doing this, you think KaibaCorp will increase its capital, not to mention appeal to other audiences," he said.

"Yes, sir," Warren said.

Seto sat, his hands folded before him. Finally, he said, "Good job. Today wasn't a complete failure. Warren, Stanton, I want a write-up of the prospective companies by tomorrow evening." ("Yes, sir.") "Gates, you will take care of that little mess in hologramming, won't you? I want to see a working duel disk in front of me within three weeks." ("Yes, Mr. Kaiba.") "And Green. Don't think I've forgotten about you." He took out a sheaf of paper and gave it to Stanton, who passed it to Green. It was filled with columns of numbers. "This is a revised budget. I want you to stick to it. If anything happens, I want a report. You don't want me to blame the wrong person again, do you?" ("No, sir.") "All right. This meeting's over." Seto stood, picked up his suitcase, and took a step toward the door. "Come on, Mokuba. Let's go."

Mokuba got up and pushed in his chair. He walked out and held the door open for his brother.

Seto also started to leave. He hesitated before the door. "Gentlemen," he said. "I've said this before, but in case you've forgotten, I'll say it again." He paused for dramatic effect. "I hope none of you have any dreams of taking over this company just because I'm sixteen because I will crush them. I will tolerate no attempts and any and all collaborators will be punished. Is that clear?" There were soft murmurs along the lines of, "Yes, Mr. Kaiba, sir." "Good afternoon."

He caught up to Mokuba, who left go of the door after his brother had passed through.

"That wasn't too bad, wasn't it?" Seto said to Mokuba, although he appeared to be talking to the air in front of him.

"No," Mokuba said. _But it wasn't exactly great, either._

Inside, the board of directors was still salvaging their nerve. "Can a sixteen-year-old even _own a company?" Green asked._

Warren shrugged. "There's nothing that says he _can't."_

"My mansion," Seto said to the chauffeur. He crossed his arms and turned to stare out the window.

Mokuba found the remote and turned on the television.

"And in business news today," the announcer said, "several companies are down for the count."

"Boring," Mokuba said. "I'm going to change the channel."

Seto directed his attention to the screen. "Wait," he commanded, just in time to stop his brother. "I want to see this."

"…over for them. Also of interest is OmniTek, which is reported to be down for the third quarter." ("OmniTek?" Mokuba said. "Isn't that one of our biggest competitors?" "Shh!" Seto said.) "Word has it that the president of the company, Mr. Yaminayama, allowed his daughter to invest a sum of the corporation's time and money to develop potentially breakthrough technology: a combination of holograms and compact voice-controlled cell-phones that would revolutionize communications. The final product, however, is expensive, bulky, and returning none of the money it took to make it. Even worse, if OmniTek continues in this trend, the other shareholders are threatening a merger, putting an end to the Yaminayama-OmniTek dynasty.

"Finally…"

"A merger, huh?" Mokuba repeated. "That's our chance, Seto. We could take over that company. No more OmniTek."

"Hmm," his brother grunted in reply. His train of thought was already exploring the land of ramifications.

Her father was waiting outside the boardroom at The Mansion Hotel when she arrived. "Sakura! What took you so long?" he said.

"School just ended," Sakura said. "And then I had to change …" She was in casual business attire now.

"Tell me later," he said absently. "Averis and his cronies are waiting."

Mr. Yaminayama opened the doors and entered the modestly furnished room with Sakura. "Good afternoon, gentlemen," he said as he took a seat. Sakura sat in the chair next to him.

"The same to you and Sakura," Todee said pleasantly. He was superficially a pleasant sort of man.

"Enough pleasantries," Krauley said, if snakes do indeed speak.

"I agree," said Averis. "Let's get down to business."

"Well, we're here to talk about the last quarter," Mr. Yaminayama said. "Although I'm sure you men would rather devote this time to areas of trouble."

"I'll waste no words, Mr. Yaminayama," Averis said. He played with one of his many rings. "Your daughter's project is a leech."

Sakura flinched just slightly. Only her father noticed. She stared at the middle of the table. _It was my brainchild! It was something none of you were capable of even dreaming of!_

"We are considering options to regain our lost capital," Krauley said. "Merging, for one…"

Mr. Yaminayama's words echoed his daughter's thoughts. "What are the other options?"

"The end result is to reach out to a broader audience," Averis said, "however we go about it. We may try to lower the price of our products directly or indirectly by increasing productivity."

"But a constant problem remains," Krauley said. "The target audience will always be the same. That means that our success will be depended on the target audience growing. And I'm not satisfied waiting that long."

"Someone in this company needs to come up with something new and innovative that will attract the world's eye," Averis said. He admired the diamonds on his middle finger.

Todee found something to say. "Then I don't see why Sakura's invention was such a bad idea."

_Fawning parasite, _Sakura thought. _I feel your scorn. You hated my idea from the beginning._

"Ah, we are on to something gentlemen," Mr. Yaminayama said.

"Indeed," Krauley seemed to agree. "That's an option we did not consider: having your daughter amend this. It is her fault, after all."

_Not quite the direction I was heading in_. Mr. Yaminayama altered the course of discussion. "I assure you, Sakura is working on a solution to rectify her mistake."

"Like what…" Averis adjusted a ring. "Is she designing a machine that will hypnotize people into buying our products?" He laughed. "You have too much faith in your daughter, Mr. Yaminayama."

"Nevertheless," he said, "I'm sure she will find something."

"How can we be so sure?" Krauley said. "She failed us once."

Mr. Yaminayama hesitated. Then he said, "How about this: we will use the next quarter as a testing period. Sakura has until then to bring the company out of its downturn. And – " he paused again. "I … offer as collateral Sakura's share of the company, her full twenty percent."

Sakura gasped.

Averis sat up. He looked at his fellow shareholders. "This is an interesting proposition. You know full well we own thirty-one percent of OmniTek."

"You're gambling the company on your daughter," Krauley said.

"It's not a gamble," Mr. Yaminayama said flatly.

"We will … need to discuss this," Averis said.

"But of course," Mr. Yaminayama said. "Sakura and I will give you time to think." He got up and stood just inside the door. "Sakura," he called.

They had hardly closed the door when they heard some serious debating begin. Sakura started whispering feverishly as well. "Father, you can't be serious about this. You gave those shares to me on my birthday. You said they were a symbol of your promise. You gave your word OmniTek would be mine. I thought for once you were going to keep it!"

Her father sighed. "I have no choice, Sakura. We need to lead them like dogs on leashes, and your shares are the bait." She hung her head. He placed his hands on her shoulders to maintain her attention and to emphasize the point. "And this won't make a difference, right, Sakura? I told those men this wasn't a gamble and I meant it. You will come up with something."

Sakura turned away. "I hate 'those men.' They're nothing but whores." She looked at him. "Isn't there anything else you can offer?"

"This is a tough lesson, Sakura. You need to recognize your limits. You need to recognize this is your responsibility." Mr. Yaminayama straightened up so he didn't have to look in her eyes. "You lost the money and those men won't be satisfied until you get it back."

Sakura sighed. _But those shares were more than a symbol of your promise. I saw them as a symbol of your acceptance…_

Todee poked his head out of the room. "Mr. Yaminayama, Sakura, we've made our decision."

Mr. Yaminayama followed Todee. When he sensed Sakura wasn't right behind him, he said, "Come, Sakura."

Krauley waited until everyone was seated. "Well, Mr. Yaminayama, you've presented us with an offer we'd be fools to refuse. We accept your proposition."

Mr. Yaminayama smiled. "I knew we could agree on something, gentlemen."

"However," Averis said, "this meeting isn't over. "We would like to know what Sakura intends on doing."

"As would I," Mr. Yaminayama said. "We will reconvene when Sakura has come up with something."

Averis opened his mouth but nothing came out. Sakura smiled. _Poor thing, _she thought maliciously. _Is he unused to being snubbed?_

"A fine idea," Todee said. "I have no qualms with that. You, Mr. Averis?"

"N-no," he said. He looked, however, like someone had stolen his rings.

"I am willing to wait," Krauley said.

"Then the end of the meeting is contingent upon the fruits of Sakura's creativity," Mr. Yaminayama said. He got up out of his chair. "If there is nothing else, gentlemen, Sakura and I bid you good afternoon."

Todee smiled. "We will see you later."

The meeting dissolved. Sakura walked with her father to their hotel suite but said nothing to him for the rest of the day.

Thanks for the review and comments! I really appreciate them! And oh so much thanks to Ziggy for beta-ing, helping me with economy of words, word choice, and all that English rot.


	5. Failed Attempts

_**Author's Note: **__I'm sorry this story hasn't been updated since January 2004. I started re-writing it and, as you've noted, time has slipped away from me. Since someone has favorite-d this story, I thought I should return the favor by uploading the last couple of chapters on a weekly or biweekly basis. They're going up as is, even though, as I look at them now, I'm not entirely happy with them. But that's what the re-write's for._

_Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who managed to find this in the kerfuffle for attention that is , and I hope you stick around for the re-write._

Chapter Five – Failed Attempts

Tristan tapped the piece of paper before him. Someone pushed him from behind. The pencil he'd gripped in shock left a long dark streak on the clean white sheet.

He turned around. "Joey! Don't scare me like that, man!"

Joey shrugged. "Why not? What were ya doin'?"

Tristan growled. "Thinkin', until you came along."

His friend pulled up a chair and straddled it, resting his arms on the back. "Didn't look like you were dinkin' 'bout much. Da paper's blank." When Tristan resumed whatever he'd been doing, Joey asked him, "'ey, Tristan, guess what today is."

Without looking up, Tristan answered: "Tuesday."

"Huh?" Joey's train of thought momentarily de-railed. His expression cleared, and he said, "You're dinkin' too small. Today … is da early openin' a' _Da Eighth Samurai_, starrin' da one an' only Jean-Claude Magnum." When Tristan looked up, piqued, the blonde boy added, "I got myself five tickets."

His friend looked at him incredulously. "What were you gonna do, take up an entire row?"

Joey imagined four seats filled with food. "I didn't dink 'a dat. But no – I invited Yugi and Téa, and dey're in. You comin'?"

Tristan thought it over briefly. "Sure. Who else is going?"

Joey shrugged. "I was gonna ask Bakura, but 'e's not here t'day. Must be 'is allergies again."

An idea rammed into Tristan. "Hey, Joey. Can I have the last ticket?"

"Why? Ya plan on askin' someone?"

"No," Tristan said. "I was gonna invite myself twice." He dropped the sarcasm. "Of course I plan on asking someone!"

Joey leaned forward. "Who are you – " He sat up as the thought clicked. "Oh," he said, nodding perceptively. "You're gonna invite – "

Tristan clamped a hand over Joey's mouth. "Shh! Don't give it away!"

The boy pulled the hand off. "When are ya gonna ask er?" he whispered.

"After school."

Joey got up, putting the chair away as he did so. He clapped a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Good luck, man – you're gonna need it."

_Fools, _Seto thought as he flipped the page. _Entranced by moving pictures on a screen._

He squashed the next thought, which went something like, _And interested in a girl I really care nothing about_.

"Sakura. Put that away or I will take it form you," Mr. Watanabe said. She appeared to not have heard, so he repeated her name. "Sakura. Sakura!"

At the third iteration of her name, Sakura looked up. "Yes, Mr. Watanabe?"

The computer science teacher heaved a frustrated sigh. "This class has been sanctioned by the government to better prepare you for the future. Now, despite the fact that your father owns a large successful company, you are still expected to do well here. And unless you can tell me what is wrong with the program excerpt I have on the overhead projector, I – " Mr. Watanabe attempted to regain eye contact with the girl, but she seemed to be staring at a point above him and to the right. "Sakura, are you paying attention?"

Without losing eye contact with her focus point, Sakura said, "That plus sign in line 1449? It's supposed to be a minus."

Mr. Watanabe's jaw dropped as he looked at Sakura, then at the overhead. He recovered, if rather clumsily. "I-If you knew that, why didn't you say anything?"

"I was defining my own program," she said, pausing to study the teacher. "If you would like, I will run it for you when I finish." Sakura couldn't help noticing his desire for a little distinction, so she continued: "I would be honored if you allowed me to develop some of it here, and you would, I assure you, be one of the first to see the program in its entirety."

Seto's eyes narrowed as he stared at Sakura. _She can't expect such a cheap ploy to work!_ But as he watched Mr. Watanabe, he knew otherwise. _The pathetic man is flattered!_ It was clear the teacher was star-struck; Mr. Watanabe acquiesced.

"Since you seem to be studying above the curriculum, I'll let this pass." He said this with a twinkle in his eye. "If, however, your work should disturb your classmates, I will not allow you such liberty."

Sakura indulged him with a smile. "Rest confident, then, in the fact that no such thing will happen." She nodded, as to seal the agreement, and Mr. Watanabe returned the gesture with formality he didn't know he had overdone.

Presently, Mr. Watanabe gave the other students their own assignments – a program they were to start writing in class and finish at home. Seto was halfway through by the end of the hour – much farther than his peers – but he took no joy in that; such tedious work was beneath him, a waste of time and effort. He glared at Sakura, and as the attention-starved man was speaking with her, he was almost sure she hadn't noticed.

Joey snuck a word or two to Tristan during the passing period, before their next teacher arrived. "Dat was pretty slick," he said, referring to Sakura's manipulation of Mr. Watanabe.

"Yeah…"

"Just dink how slick she's gonna be when she rejects ya."

Tristan turned to return, but as he followed Joey's gaze, he noticed the chemistry teacher giving them a reprimanding look. He had to settle for a glower.

Against all reason, the time in Mr. Ooguchi's class seemed to pass even slower than usual. Tristan composed a million invitations to Sakura as he watched the second hand drag by. So self-absorbed, he jerked when the bell rang. He noticed Joey watching him as he packed his things and scowled. "Don't you usually walk home with Yugi and Téa?"

"Ah, I told 'em I'd catch up. B'sides, I want ta watch dis." Joey looked up. "Betta hurry – she's leavin'."

"What?"

"Dere she goes," Joey continued unhelpfully.

Sakura was already out of the classroom. Tristan hurriedly pulled his bag off the hook on his desk and hurried to catch up to her. He matched her pace when he drew beside her. "So, Sakura…"

She stopped and turned to look at him, a distant look in her eyes. In a blink, she pounced on him with a piercing gaze. "Yes?"

Intimidated by the intensity, Tristan flaked out and focused on her banks. "Joey's got an extra ticket to the early opening of the new Magnum flick, _The Eighth Samurai_. He said I could invite someone with it, and I thought of you."

Sakura furrowed her brow slightly and cocked her head. "Oh…" she said softly.

"So will you come? I know you haven't been to a movie before, and this could be kinda fun."

Sakura shook her head. "Ah… I'm sorry, but …" she began.

Tristan couldn't keep the disappointment out of his eyes, but he managed a smile. "Yeah, you're busy. I know, being the daughter of a company president and all."

She nodded. "Then you understand." She got into her limo. "Have fun at the theatre."

Tristan felt an arm go around his shoulders as he watched the retreating car. "Sorry, man," Joey said. "At least you tried."

Tristan only sighed.

Seto snickered as he rode by. _Deluded dolt_, he thought. _A dunce like him really had no chance. And anyone could see she clearly wasn't interested in him_.

An idea regarding her invention's schematics struck Sakura on the way back to the suite, so she didn't eat until she had finished developing the concept to her satisfaction. Engrossed in her thoughts, she noticed her father poring over some spreadsheets and figures only when she decided to break for dinner. She self-congratulatorily ordered for tempura to be brought to the suite and delighted in a couple of stimulatingly frustrating games of Minesweeper before taking interest in her father's occupying concern. "Daddy, what are you doing?"

He took a pencil and made changes to a set of figures, absently saying, "Just studying the numbers."

Curious about the specifics, Sakura approached her father and looked at some of the papers he had gone through. His neat handwriting was all over the budgets of more expendable company programs. She gasped. "Daddy, you're not just studying them – you're actually cutting stuff to account for the money my project lost!"

He sat up with a start, as if only now fully aware of the situation. "Ah, these are only preliminary estimates – that's why they're in pencil."

Sakura followed a row with her finger and read it aloud: "NeoTechnology: 4.5 million. You've crossed that out and written in 2,542,293 yen." She gave him an icy glare. "You're a good guesser."

"Torai-kun, I –"

She tossed the sheaf in her hands onto the table and verbally pounced on him. "Don't 'torai-kun' me! At that meeting, you gambled my stock and explicitly said you trusted me to recover your company's money without any help. Then you saw me working on a solution why I returned from school and still you didn't have the sense to at least put the numbers away while I was around!"

"I admit, that was an error in judgment on my part," he said, "but –"

Sakura grabbed her purse and stalked out of the room. "No. I don't care for an apology, Daddy – much less one with a 'but.' I just want to know I can trust your words." She slammed the door as she left.

The phone's ringing shook Tristan out of his stupor. It had been the kind induced by staring at the same page of homework for the past hour and a half. He stretched as he reached to pick up the phone, covering the mouthpiece as he yelled, "I've got it!" Then he moved his hand and answered, "Hello, Taylor residence."

"Ah, Tristan?"

He sat up. "Sakura?" Slightly confused, he asked, "How'd you get my number?"

"It's listed."

"Oh." _Duh._ "What's up?"

"I've had a … change in plans – It turns out I won't be as busy as I thought I'd be."

"Hey! That's cool! So you'll be able to watch _The Eighth Samurai_ with us?"

"Sure, where's the theatre?"

Tristan gave her the specifics – they were to meet in half an hour at the square. There Joey would hand out the tickets before they went in. "Do you have a ride?" he asked. Then he realized she probably owned limos.

She hesitated before answering: "No."

He swung at the curve ball. "Um, I've got a motorcycle. I could pick you up."

Again a pause. Then – "Uun. I'll be in front of the Mansion Hotel." There was a small silence, less poignant this time. "It's 6:25 now. When will you be here?"

_Score_. "I should be there in ten minutes."

"I'll be waiting."

Tristan continued to stare at the phone in his hands after he heard the click. _Man_, he thought. _Talk about luck_.

"Where's Tristan? 'e said 'e'd be here."

"Give it a rest, Joey," Yugi said as he toyed with a bracelet. "He'll be here before the movie starts."

Joey crossed his arms, frustrated. "Well, he'd betta. I wan' ta be in dere wit' my popcorn just before da movie sta'ts."

"Why do you even bother, Joey?" Téa asked. "Nothing there, especially the popcorn, is worth the price they make you pay for it."

"Sorry, Téa, but some of us have our traditions, and one 'a mine's gettin' popcorn fer every Magnum flick."

"Have you ever actually eaten any of it?"

"Nope. And dat's gonna stay tradition, too."

Yugi's face lit up and he waved an arm. "Hey! Tristan! Over here!"

"Huh? Who's dat with 'im?"

The three jumped back as Tristan slowed to a stop before them. "Isn't that – " Téa began as the two riding the motorcycle got off. The female passenger, who had been sitting behind Tristan, took off her helmet.

"Sakura!" Yugi finished. "What are you doing here?"

"I thought I'd take a break from my work," she said. "And Tristan invited me to join you."

Yugi nodded. "Fair enough." He grinned. "Although I don't know how relaxing an action flick will be."

"It'll be all right." Tristan held out a crooked right arm and said to Sakura, "Shall we?"

Sakura raised her eyebrows and flashed an amused smile before allowing him to escort her into the theatre. Yugi and Téa followed, as did Joey as soon as he had purchased his popcorn.

Although he was as fond of the big picture and loud sounds as Joey was, Tristan picked out seats in the middle of the theatre, where the display and acoustics would be impressive but not overwhelming.

Sakura sat as the feature began. A majestic theme featuring many stringed instruments and horns spilled into her ears as the camera short focused on the backs of a boy and his mother. It moved between them, then swept down across the valley below to capture seven horsemen circle a band of masked men and shepherd them toward a village that cheered upon seeing the riders. The men were searched and stolen articles were recovered. Finally, the horseman who seemed to be the leader declared an ultimatum – the robbers would leave with their lives, never to return, save on a death wish. There was a face-off between this rider and one of the robbers that ended in the wassail's death. Left headless, the rest of the snake scampered. The camera's short scanned up and settled on the wistful expression on the boy's face. "I want to be with them," he said.

"Perhaps the one will come for you, as his father did for him," the mother said.

The shot panned up and out as words appeared in the sky – _The Eighth Samurai_.

Sakura lost interest between that and the second scene. The movie seemed to be a take on the basic affirmation of identity premise, with this main character discovering he was a samurai's son, then going on a quest to avenge his father's murder. ("Dat one's Jean-Claude! 'e's awesome!" she heard someone hiss.)

For Tristan's sake, Sakura kept her eyes glued to the screen while she mused on other matters, notably those involving her father. Lately there existed a tenseness between them – typical, she knew, of most adolescent relationships, but she hated the way it made her feel like a textbook case. It would not have been so bad if there were no accompanying sense of guilt, a sense that she let her father down. She was a daddy's girl. She still remembered the afternoons, after she finished lessons with her tutor, when she would find her father, climb into his lap, and just sit there watching him move men and capital with a few marks on a piece of paper. It fascinated her, his apparent omnipotence. It made her love him – her father, who understood her every quirk was someone who could move mountains.

Things fell apart while she was under the tutelage of the late Akito Kawamoto. He was fairly liberal for an old man, rewarding Sakura with instruction in self defense or origami when she successfully completed her studies. Her father disapproved of the unorthodoxy but did not stop Akito; instead he began formally training her in the art of business – a matter of great consequence, he emphasized. Although glad to follow in her father's footsteps, Sakura resented the sudden check on her liberties.

Conflicting interests thus caused the first rift.

Kawamoto strived to reconcile the father and daughter, but only in passing did he manage to do so. Sakura loved the old man enough to bury feelings and start attending business meetings again, something she hadn't done in ages. To her horror, she learned the stock independent of hers and her father's had been secured by three men of shady disposition, and she realized what a risk her father had taken in conferring on her a third of his shares on her fifteenth birthday. Continuing in that trend, Mr. Yaminayama allowed her the industrial equivalent of a hands-on experiment and lent her a department to work with.

Unfortunately, the decision also became a move equivalent to commercial suicide when she failed. The unsuccessful experiment brought all of the tenseness back to their relationship. However, both Sakura and her father had managed to keep a lid on things.

Or at least she thought she had. Her father's agreement with Averis, Krawley, and Todee was by no means the first time he had gambled a promise, so it was something she believed she could let be. Perhaps it was naïve of her, but the subsequent assurance from her father assuaged her doubts and resorted some of the confidence she'd lost in the experiment. Seeing her father carelessly dash that to pieces was the straw that broke her mettle.

It seemed like now he was nothing like the father she knew before. He did not understand her at all.

And she could not understand him. Too long in the vicious world of business all by himself had changed him…

Sakura felt a tap on her arm and started. "Huh?"

Tristan was looking at her curiously. "You're staring at the credits." When she blinked in confusion, he added, "The movie's over; Yugi and Téa are waiting outside."

"Oh. I'm sorry, I didn't realize – " Sakura began as she got up, allowing Tristan to help her stand.

He shook his head. "That's okay. I could sorta tell you weren't paying attention when you didn't blink during the action scenes." He put his hands in his pockets as he followed Sakura out. "What were you thinking about?"

"Things…" she murmured.

Tristan gave Sakura a concerned glance; she seemed subdued. "Hey, if you ever need someone to listen, or even just be there, I'm here for you."

Yugi and Téa remained silent as the two approached, sensing the emotionally charged atmosphere.

"Thanks," Sakura said after a while.

"Do you need a ride?"

Sakura shook her head. "I'll catch this taxi, if you don't mind." An approaching cab paused before her. "Goodbye! Thanks for the evening!" she called out the window as the driver whisked her away.

Tristan slumped, but straightened up when Joey came out. "Man, dat was awesome!" the boy yelled. "Hello. My name is Satoshi Nigihayami. You killed my fatha. Prepare ta die," he quoted, completely with gesticulations from the movie.

"I think I liked _Dances with Ninjas_ better," Téa said, referring to another Magnum movie.

"Oh, that was a chick flick, Téa," Yugi said jokingly.

"Nah, dis one was definitely betta. What do you dink, Tristan?"

"The samurai stuff in this one was pretty cool," his friend responded.

Joey didn't notice the flat tone. "See, Téa? _Da Eighth Samurai_ kicks _Dances wit' Ninja_'s butt!"

Yugi left Joey and Téa to console Tristan. "What was that, with Sakura?"

"Oh, she got depressed thinking about stuff," he said.

"Don't worry," Yugi said. "She'll be fine. I'm sure whatever it is, she's more than able enough to handle it."

"Yeah…" Tristan said as he donned his helmet and rode off. He felt slightly guilty thinking so, but what he wanted to know was not whether Sakura would be all right, but why he could not hold on to a girl.

Mr. Yaminayama looked up when the door opened. "Sakura. Sakura?"

His daughter looked at him. In her eyes he could see none of the anger that had caused her to leave, but she did not speak as she continued into her room and locked the door.


	6. The First of a Thousand

Chapter Six – The First of a Thousand

When Sakura arrived at school the next day, Tristan approached her looking concerned. "Sakura – how are you?"

"I'm well. And you?" Her voice was devoid of emotion, as it had been during their get-together at Burger World.

"Me too." He watched Sakura take her seat, set her case beside her chair and pull out a set of rough drafts of schematic drawings as well as several pages of her program complete with tidy notes that were squeezed in between lines and ended up trailing down the margins. "You all right?"

She stared at him. "Of course. Why wouldn't I be?"

Tristan put on an awkward smile. This side of Sakura was overbearing and intimidating. "Well, yesterday – "

" – was an exception," Sakura cut in. "I assure you, I'm all right. Thanks for your concern, Tristan, but I would feel just as fine without it."

"Okay. Um. Yeah." He chuckled nervously. "I'll see you around."

"I don't doubt it," she said without looking up. Sakura heard him leave and realized she had been a bit callous. "Oh, and, uh, Tristan?"

"Yeah?"

She gave him a tired, lopsided smile, "Keep trying."

Tristan grinned. "Thanks," he said and took a seat.

Most of the teachers left Sakura alone. Dr. Kushida kept trying to catch her off guard with questions, but as she never failed to answer correctly – and in depth – the chemistry teacher could not find a sensible reason to force Sakura to pay attention.

This did not fail to irk Seto, so he approached her during the lunch hour. "Sakura."

She looked up from the sketch and relaxed her grip on the pen she had been using. Seto glimpsed a schematic drawing for a small, self-contained hologram projector besmeared with plenty of Wite-Out. "What is it?"

"I'd like to discuss a business proposition," Seto said. "I understand you have endangered your father's position as president of OmniTek, and my company may be able to help you."

"Ah," Sakura said. She visibly lost her composure but quickly recovered it, and began massaging her right hand – though she stopped this just as quickly – as she ran through possibilities. She seemed to be going nowhere with the schematic drawing, but she was sure Kaiba's idea of help involved threatening to relieve a trio of ambitious but spineless men of their stock. She would be trading in the current vexation for a treacherous ally. How did the adage go? "Better the _oni_ you knew than the one you didn't." – Any victory she won with his aid might prove Pyrrhic.

Nevertheless, there was something to be said for hiding aces up your sleeve.

Seto savored watching Sakura. Although she betrayed nothing on her face, he could sense the agitation in the mental waters he had disturbed. He longed to dip in them, but he needed an answer. "Well?"

Sakura looked up at him. "When would you like to see me?"

He allowed himself a small smile. "Tonight, at six o'clock," he said. "My chauffeur will pick you up."

She sighed wearily. "Very well."

Seto returned to his seat, anticipating the evening. It had been some time since he had engaged in a good duel of any sort and he would enjoy this, especially as the prize was the devil's foothold in OmniTek. He closed his eyes and chuckled softly, reveling in his sense of control.

In three of Yugi's classes, his other half joined him, following the lectures just as avidly – if not more so! – than Yugi did. Three millennia as a displaced spirit had intensified his inquisitiveness. He found fascinating science's ability to explain; it satisfied so many questions yet raised thousands more. Still, Yugi could not understand why anyone would want to learn willingly, and as the spirit could not explain it to his aibou's satisfaction, Yugi decided to drop the subject. He had let a lot of subjects drop, much to his partner's chagrin.

It was lunch now, and chemistry was over, but Yami Yugi had not left yet. He remained on the corner of Yugi's desk, observing others as they socialized. Or read. He watched Seto approach Sakura, somewhat amused. "Yugi?"

"Mmm?" Yugi, usually regardful of the spirit, was too occupied with studies to hang on Yami Yugi's every world right now.

The spirit did not mind. He had convinced the boy an improvement in his grades would lead to more games to play with, but way of an increase in his allowance by his mother. He merely continued speaking. "I think Kaiba is asking Sakura out." He looked at his hikari. "I told you he liked her."

Yugi flipped through a couple pages in his book, jotted something down, and circled it. He looked at Yami incredulously. "But … no – can you imagine – wait. Him?" he stuttered.

They watched the young mogul sit down. "He looks pleased," Yami commented.

Yugi looked down and attacked a new problem. "I bet it's just something to do with their companies," he muttered.

Yami Yugi shrugged his shoulders. "If you say so." He looked at Yugi's work and sighed. "Aibou, in physics the solution is more important than the correct answer. Show your work."

Tristan decided to satisfy himself with watching Sakura make her usual graceful exit when the final bell rang. This afternoon, however, she trembled nearly imperceptibly as she rose and hastily threw a backwards glance at Seto as she left. He smirked and picked up his own briefcase. Tristan put the pieces together and followed Seto. "Hey! Kaiba!"

Seto turned. "Is something bothering you, Tristan?" His voice dripped condescension and contempt.

"What'd you do to Sakura?" he said angrily.

"Anything you saw was already there." Seto's chauffeur opened the limousine door for his master. "Don't waste your time on a lost cause," he said as he rode away.

Tristan clenched his fist so tightly it shook. Just once, he'd liked to put Kaiba in his place.

The limo arrived at The Mansion at half past five. Sakura, conservatively attired in her signature collared, sleeveless blouse and short skirt, nevertheless felt inadequately dressed for the meeting ahead as she bowed her head in thanks and entered the door Seto's chauffeur had opened.

Everything inside seemed to emanate a sense of Kaiba. Sakura traced her finger over the KaibaCorp logo etched into the car door handle.

"How are you tonight?"

Sakura jolted. "What?"

"I was speaking to you, miss," the chauffeur said. "How are you tonight?"

"Fine, I suppose."

"Oh? Wherefore is the reason for the uncertainty?"

She stared out the window. "Just stuff."

The chauffeur nodded. "Ah. And this appointment you have with Kaibasama only makes you feel worse?"

Sakura nodded. "It shouldn't. I know exactly what he will propose and I've been to meetings before, so I know how to deal…."

"Then what is bothering you?"

"I don't know…"

"Have you ever gone it alone before?"

She shook her head. "It's always been with Daddy."

"Why are you flying solo now?" He took a right turn.

Sakura's tone indicated she believed the reason evident. "Well, I wasn't about to tell him."

"You wish to recover the lost assets by himself?" When the girl looked at him, startled, the chauffeur added, "I was driving when Kaibasama was returning from another meeting. We heard the report."

"Oh. That."

The chauffeur chuckled, but Sakura found she did not mind. "Relax," he said. "This probably won't be as rough as some of the stuff you've been to. More likely than not, Kaibasama's bark will be worse than his bite." He stopped the car; they had arrived. "Break a leg."

Unfamiliar with the phrase, Sakura cocked her head curiously.

"American performers have an odd superstition, where by wishing another good luck, one inadvertently wishes ill," the chauffeur explained. "But ordinary people use it, too. The country is strange.," he continued as he got out to open Sakura's door.

"Ah," Sakura said. She allowed the chauffeur to help her out. "Thank you for the counsel."

"It was an honor, miss."

Mokuba heard the sharp, bright click of heels on pavement and peeked out of the front window to see a girl ascending their steps. "Niisama, someone's here!"

Seto got up. "She should be. I had the chauffeur pick her up."

Mokuba joined him as he opened the door. Sakura had her hand up, as if to knock, and looked surprised Seto had anticipated her. "Come in."

The younger Kaiba nudged his brother. Seto looked down and added, "Oh, and this is Mokuba."

Sakura knelt and offered a hand. "Nice to meet you, Mokuba. My name is Sakura." She paused. "May I call you Moki-chan?"

"Sure." He grinned at his older brother and shook the proffered hand. "That's what Seto used to call me."

Sakura gave Seto an eyebrow quirk as she entered.

The first thing one saw upon entering the mansion was the expansive ball room. A ferocious Dragon writhed around each of the four load-bearing pillars, two of these were to her left, the others to her right. Settees were arranged in half circles, one half-circle per pair of columns. There was a large table in the middle of the room which Sakura imagined was covered with drinks and delectables during the parties the late Kaiba – what was his name? – must have been thrown after clinching a business deal.

Seto led her left of this, and as Sakura followed him, she noticed how superfluously billowy his purple cape was. She glimpsed the living part of the living room before he indicated a chair at another, larger table. It was a proud, hand-carved mahogany shellacked to a deep brown. "Sit," he said as he sat opposite her.

Sakura did so. She watched Mokuba briefly step out of the room before taking his place next to his niisama, while Seto sat back and regarded her.

The stare was disconcerting. She maintained her end of it as long as she could, but eventually Sakura had to look away. _What is he waiting for?_ _Start already!_ She thought as she studied the table. She felt cornered. To her left were a set of stairs – and were those Dragons at the foot of the banister? Behind her and to her right were windows. Ahead of her was Seto.

Nevermind being cornered. She felt small.

Finally he spoke: "Sakura – "

He was interrupted by one of his domestic servants wheeling in several dishes. Seto gave the attendant a dark look, even as the servant sit her beef fillet and sauce and rice before him. "What are you doing?"

The servant set down Mokuba's _oyaku donburi_, smiling when the young master gave a delighted "Yay!" "Your brother said you wished to have dinner, so dinner is served." He put the _misoshiru_ in the middle of the table, between Seto and Sakura. "And I'm sorry, young miss," he said to Sakura, "but we didn't anticipate you. I'm sure we'll be able to prepare whatever you would like to eat."

She saw Mokuba give her an encouraging nod, so she smiled and said, "That's all right. Can I have curry rice and tempura?"

He nodded. "As you wish, young miss," he said and left.

Not entirely looking forward to another lengthy silence, Mokuba got and, quickly covering the distance around the table, offered a hand to Sakura. "Since you aren't gonna be able to eat for a while, wanna have a look around?" he invited.

Thankful for the offer, Sakura was nevertheless apprehensive. She glanced at Seto. "But he – "

"Seto won't mind, will you, niisama?"

From the derisive grunt he gave, Sakura was sure Seto believed a free dinner was too much hospitality. But he suffered Mokuba's whim with an indifferent "Whatever."

"Thanks, niisama!" Mokuba pulled Sakura up. "D'ya wanna check out the other side of this room?"

She nodded. "Sure."

Mokuba guided her around the table before letting go off her hand. He walked without seeing what he massed, familiar with his home. Sakura traveled at a more leisurely pace, paying closer detail to that which she had glimpsed_ en passant_. She paused before the imitation fireplace, piqued by the framed picture sitting on the mantle above it. She picked up one of them, which featured Mokuba on some kind of stage in a blue uniform with tassels on the shoulders and a top hat of the same color. It was not unlike the raiment of _Great Phantom Thief_. "Moki-chan, what's this?" she asked, holding up the picture.

Mokuba was too far away to see the photograph but, recognizing the gilded frame, reddened slightly. "That's some picture Seto took during a school play."

"And the costume?"

"He designed that. It's a Duel Monster, I think."

"Mmm." Sakura replaced the picture and resumed following Mokuba before doing a double take. She scanned all of the photographs again and realized Seto was in none of them.

She chewed on this as she rambled in Mokuba's general direction. He was seated at the piano bench and he watched Sakura as she toured this half of the living room. She traced an imaginary curlicue that brought her near the Ottomans, and then the big screen television and accompanying video collection – mostly Miyazakis and animes – before ending at the grand piano. "Do you play?" she asked.

Mokuba nodded. "Uh huh." He pecked out a melody. "I don't know if you know it. My teacher said it's sort of old."

He started somewhat haltingly but quickly gained confidence as he eased into the music. Seto recognize the rondo – Mokuba played it often. It was a sort of nocturne in pentatonic minor, remembered, but he was untrained in music listening and could not gather anything more.

Sakura, too, was familiar with the piece. She hummed softly the contrasting sections but sang the chorus-like repentend:

hatpankh ha'a-un ma'ames

irir ha'a-un ma'ames

ka'atm ma'amu-ta'ay netankh

ka'atm gemti-ta'ay khunankh

hatpankh ha'a-un ma'ames

irir ha'a-un ma'ames

ima'abekhr-ta'ay ma'ames, ma'akhprt en nemHmr

ta'akp aa'akh dja'akha ba'abun, ai

Akenekhknen, Atn, Setu

sheskhet en ma'abekhm en dja'akhkahnes

hatpankh ha'a-un ma'ames

irir ha'a-un ma'ames

Mokuba looked at her when he finished playing. "I didn't know there were words."

She drifted by the window. "There are, but I don't remember what those mean. My mother sang it to me."

"Couldn't you ask her?"

Sakura gave him a harsh look and shook her head. She scanned the spines of the books in the case to the window's left. "Nietzsche, Asimov, and at the bottom a bit of Freud," she said, noting the photograph albums on the lowest shelf but not mentioning them. "Let me guess – this is Kaiba's study corner."

Mokuba realized he hit a nerve and so did not feel slighted. Instead he nodded. "Mm-hmm. Niisama does most of his work there." He got up and resumed giving her the tour. "And to your left are the stairs, but you knew that." He led her past these, walking under and arch that was right of the foot of the stairs and turned left. "And this is one of the many hallways – this one's kind of boring, 'cept for that picture on the wall."

Sakura stared at it. "It's just a blank canvas that's been framed."

"It's supposed to be abstract or something," Mokuba said. "A whole buncha people were bidding for it, and Seto thought that was funny, so he bought it. "He turned and opened the first door on his right. "And this is the rec room. I play in here, but Seto's always busy and the staff always lets me win."

"I'll play with you," Sakura said as she entered. "What've you got?"

In the room was a pool table, a big screen television on the far side, and books and toys on the shelf on the east wall. She looked through the games – there was a good collection of video games, only a couple of which has been opened; several board games, chess and checkers included; an oft-frequented mah jong set; and several Rubik's cubes. _Poor kid,_ she thought. _All of these toys and no one to play with_. She kept digging through the shelves until she found –

"You've got origami paper!" Sakura held up an unopened package.

"Yeah, but I don't know what to do with it," Mokuba said. "I don't know how to make anything."

"I can show you," he offered.

"Really?" he said. "That'd be awesome!"

The same servant as before came in. "Sumimasen. Young miss, your curry rice and tempura is ready. And young sir? I've taken the liberty of keeping your dinner warm. Dessert is waiting in the kitchen."

"Arigato," Sakura said.

Mokuba smiled. "Thanks."

He bowed before leaving them. Sakura and Mokuba returned to the dining table. She glimpsed the refrigerator in the kitchen across the rec room and couldn't help but notice the schoolwork proudly stuck to its door with magnets.

_Funny_, she thought. _Didn't think Kaiba was capable of love but there you go. He may not show it, but all the signs are there … _The thought triggered those of someone else and she made a mental note.

Sakura took her seat, feeling slightly better but uneasy not that she was back. Her "Itadakimasu!" followed on the hells of Mokuba's. And although he did not utter the expression, Seto also began to eat.

Mokuba ate quickly and finished first. Forgetting about dessert, he sat, impatiently the others take their time. He got up, returned with the origami paper, and took a seat next to Sakura as she finished eating. He opened the package and removed a couple sheets. "What do you know how to make?"

"Mmm!" It was more of a guttural stop than a tribute to the meal. She swallowed her last bite of tempura and wiped her lips. "Gomenne." She glanced across the table at Seto.

He was glowering.

"Moki-chan, methinks your brother would rather he and I start talking business."

Mokuba slid the papers before her. "But you can show me a couple, nee?"

Sakura sighed. "You know that's not the question."

"Please, niisama?" Mokuba asked. "You gave me the paper but I never learned what to do with it."

Finally finished, Seto pushed his plate to the right, out of the way. "Mokuba," he said, softly but firmly. "I invited Sakura to offer a proposition I have yet to explain to her. Isn't there someone else you could find who would teach you?"

"I tried, Seto. There's a reason I've never opened this before."

Seto sighed. "Mokuba – "

"Please? You won't have to get me a birthday present!"

"When is that?" Sakura asked.

Distracted, Seto said, "It's the seventh – " ("Ah.") " – but that's not the point. Mokuba, can't you wait until after?"

"Come off it, Seto. No one wants to play after you've grilled them."

After a silence he used to arbitrate, Seto conceded grudgingly. "Fine. Play."

When Sakura hesitated, Mokuba prompted, "What did you say you could make?"

Shrewdly avoiding Seto's gaze, she said to Mokuba, "Well, there's the easy stuff, and after you master the techniques, you can figure out how to make other things."

Sakura carefully creased a piece of paper, commenting on each of the foundation folds as she went through them. Mokuba watched avidly, utterly amazed when she produced a flower. She looked at him curiously, asking, "You've _never_ seen anything fold origami before?"

He shook his head. "Nope. And of course Seto's too busy to show me anything."

Emboldened by Mokuba's successful defiance, Sakura dared to speak to his brother. Her visual focus, however, remained on the pale blue paper in her hands. "Tsk tsk, Kaiba," she said mockingly. "Origami is a part of culture. Have you no respect for your roots?"

Seto mumbled something that sounded like "Screw roots."

She looked at him inquisitively. "Excuse me?"

"I don't have time to fold paper for fun," she said loudly to mask his annoyance with her amused smile and with his loss of control – had no one interrupted, he would have had her! To compound his malcontent, he could not tell if she had heard him or not. "And from what I understand, Sakura," he continued, "you don't either, so speed it up."

Mokuba looked up briefly. "Relax, Seto," he said. "You'll have plenty of time to do whatever it is you want to do with Sakura."

"Hmph!" Seto muttered softly, but loud enough to let Sakura know he was growing impatient. He crossed his arms. _You are pushing it. I will tolerate my brother's precociousness, but not your audacity_.

Sakura fitted two independently constructed pieces together, forming what was unmistakably a small dragon. She pulled on the multifid tail, causing the wings to flap, and put it in Mokuba's hands. "Wow … where'd you learn to do that?" Mokuba asked. "It looks just like a Blue-Eyes!"

Despite himself, Seto snuck a glance at the dragon. His brother was not mistaken. He wanted it, but that was a passing fancy.

Sakura started folding something else. "An old friend showed me. He was a genius with origami."

"Was?" Mokuba asked. He brought his hands to his face so he could study the paper creature.

She hesitated before saying, "Yes. Was."

He glanced up at her. Was this another one of those things? Everyone seemed to have a past they didn't want to talk about.

Sakura pulled on the two flaps that unfolded and put the new product in Mokuba's hands as well. "What is it?" he asked.

"It's a friendship knot – "

"_Alternatively," Kawamoto said, "if you close the knot, it becomes a fox. Similarly, if you close your heart, you may become greedy and rapacious. Keep the heart open and mind that you keep your heart likewise. Do you understand?"_

_Sakura nodded._

" – Do you like it?" Sakura asked.

Mokuba nodded. "I'm gonna keep this – does this mean you're my friend?"

She smiled. "Sure. Why not?"

"Can you show me how to make a crane?"

"Of course. First you fold it in half – "

Mokuba matched her moves. "Do you think if I make a thousand of these I could make a wish and have it come true?"

"I don't know. I've never tried," Sakura said. "What would you wish for?"

"If I tell you, the wish'll never have a chance," Mokuba said.

"Ah. Of course." Still, Sakura wanted to know what Mokuba needed to wish for.

She finished another creature – a tiger – and set it aside as she watched Mokuba. He finished a second crane and was working on another. "Are you really going to make a thousand of those?"

Distracted, Mokuba only said, "The wish is worth it."

_Finally_. Seto pounced on the moment. "Well, then, let's get down to business."

The hour that had passed had refreshed Sakura, and having someone next to her as she faced Seto – however distracted he may be! – was encouraging. "Very well."

"Sakura, let me see if I've got this straight: Your father's company is down for the third straight quarter because of something you did. Now rather influential shareholders are hounding you. Is that right?"

She frowned. _Thanks. Putting it that way makes me feel so much better._ "That is correct."

Mokuba took another piece of paper and started again.

"This is the way I see it," Seto said. "Those shareholders are a thorn in your side and will be unitl you terminate them as a threat. This can happen either of two ways. Either you will figure out how to create that holographic cell-phone of yours, which I admit is ambitious – but it doesn't look like it'll come together anytime soon – or you can buy them out."

"Four," Mokuba said softly.

Sakura ignored him. "Kaiba, what is obvious is that you wish to buy out the thorn. Although this will, as you say, terminate the threat, it is only a short-term solution. And I'm not so naïve that I don't see the new thorn that would appear with the displacement of the old. What you need to do is convince me the new thorn will be an improvement in my situation and I don't think you'll be able to do that."

Seto was charged. While the way she had cracked when he had approached her at school had whetted his appetite, he had really wanted to defeat the confident Sakura who intrigued and frustrated him. He smirked. She did not disappoint. Instead, she had anticipated his proposal and rejoined with a challenge. "How could it not be an improvement? If word of this offer even got out, the price of your shares would go through the roof!"

Sakura was also keyed up. She smiled slightly – this was fun. Her father was patient, choosing to subtly direct the discussion. But she was younger, and she decided she liked passive aggression. "You seem so confident I need your assistance."

Seto snickered. "Is that the best defense you've got, Sakura? Take a look at where you are financially – a black hole. Take a look at where you are commercially – event horizon. The only think keeping OmniTek from going over the edge is you and a little stalling time your daddy probably bought for you. Admit it – your future's bleak, because you know how long those men are willing to wait? A financial quarter, tops. Given how long it takes manufacturing to get started on anything new, you'll have to come up with something by the end of the week to have even the remotest chance of saving your company.

"The only thing that'll help you now is a miracle. As both of us are smart enough to realize there are no such thing as miracles, you'll have to settle for _deux et machine_, and you know who I've cast for the role."

Sakura averted her gaze. Seto had seen many do the same after they had failed to rebuff his attacks, and it was always followed by a pathetic attempt at a tactful surrender. Hence, her chuckling somewhat bemused him.

She held a crooked index finger to her lips – an inherited habit held over from when it was considered impolite to show one's teeth while laughing. Finally she stopped, shaking her head lightly. "My dear Kaiba, has subtlety ever been your strong suit? Or must things be enlarged before you get even a glimpse of the big picture?"

Seto frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"When you approached me earlier today I admit I quailed. But during our discussion, I realized your strategy."

"And that is – "

"In relentlessly nailing your disputant with irrefutable ignominies, Kaiba, you cause them to question themselves. No doubt this has worked before. And you almost had me."

Seto growled. "Get on with it."

"I had to remember something someone once told me: 'Your biggest enemy is the fear that resides in your heart.' I am on the verge of a breakthrough, and retreating from that would be foolish. What you are asking me to do is back away from a rickety bridge and into the jaws of a tiger. Before me may be a chasm, but on the other side are only promising prospects, while behind me there is but one future: commercial damnation. As you can guess, I'm going to do the smart thing: trust myself and cross the bridge." When Seto did not say anything, she added, "That means I reject your offer, whatever form it may take."

"That's your choice? To chase after a pot of gold by following some ramshackle rainbow?"

Sakura's mind was made up. "It is." She stood. "I apologize for wasting your time but I've decided. And you cannot dissuade me."

Seto did not follow her lead, but remained seated. "You know our companies our competitors. In the end, one of them will succumb to the other, and the losing company will not be mine. You're only delaying the inevitable, and next time I make a bid for OmniTek, I won't be so polite about it."

She had come round the table by now and was standing next to him. She placed a fist over her heart and looked down on his condescendingly. "Yes," she said. "Hold on to that. It's all you've got." She straightened up. "If that is all … ?"

"Go. Leave." Seto said crisply.

Sakura shrugged off his curtness. "Sayonara, Moki-chan."

Mokub aloked up from his paper crane. "Bye, Sakura."

She nodded and, with a final glance at Seto, left. The chauffeur was waiting outside.

After a while, Mokuba responded softly: "Maybe it's because she's like you were before Gozaburo adopted us."

Seto chafed at the name and the comparison, but as his brother said nothing more, he merely grabbed a glimpse at the origami dragon before withdrawing to his makeshift study on the other side of the room. Unfortunately, a sense of Sakura seemed to have permeated the atmosphere there, so he found a book and tried to unwind in one of the Ottomans.

It didn't work.

Sakura thanked the chauffeur and bid him farewell before he drove off.

Her father was waiting for her, and he asked how her day had been as she stowed her things in her room. "It was all right," was all Sakura said, although she knew full well he wished to know of her after-school activities. She sat next to him on the sole couch in the suite.

He studied his feet, unsure of how to go about continuing the conversation. Suddenly, he felt Sakura give him a hug. As she had not spoken a friendly word to him – much less given him a sign of affection – since she had started work on her holographic cell phone a little over a year ago, he was somewhat startled. "What is this for?" he asked.

"I don't know," she said as she disengaged herself. "I just thought I should."

"You trained me well," she said after awhile. "Kaiba invited me to hear a proposal."

"And how did I prepare me for that?"

"By forcing me to think for myself. In doing so, I also had to learn to trust myself. Both of these proved useful." She grinned lopsidedly. "Either that or I was being obnoxiously stubborn when I brushed off his proposition."

Her father returned the smile. "It's early in the game. You have time to learn the difference between a shrewd decision and hardheadedness and pride." He mussed her hair.

Sakura nuzzled up to his hand before pulling away. "You know I still haven't forgiven you for doubting me and gambling your word," she said soberly.

Her father sighed. "I know. … But Sakura – "

She held up her index finger with a small gasp. Her eyes unfocused and she said, "Hold that thought. I think I've figured something out."

She dashed from the room, leaving her father somewhat flustered.


	7. A Second Appraisal

Chapter Seven – A Second Appraisal

Thursday passed without much comment. Teachers reminded students that their trimester finals would occur the week before summer break, but that was nothing new.

At home, Mokuba expressed a wistful desire for a playmate. The friends he brought over were either more interested in the unopened video games than in Mokuba, or were uneasy in Seto's presence.

Seto did not think it was healthy for Mokuba to compulsively make a thousand cranes, but either did he want to endure Sakura again. He reflected on the origami dragon someone had placed on a corner of his desk and said he would think about it.

As she was nearly finished, Sakura decided to stay up late writing proposals and filling out various forms that would explain her intentions and justify the speed with which things needed to proceed to patenting offices and her divisions of OmniTek's manufacturing sector. This was accomplished with some difficulty; as the night grew older, she found it harder to remain serious while completing the paperwork and consequently had to redo quite a bit of it.

Sakura did not mind; she was in a good mood. To her surprise and great pleasure, her problem with the hologram projector had been the crux of a multi-faceted issue, and solving the one problem allowed her work to proceed at a greatly hastened pace.

It was dawn before she was able to start wrapping things up. She transmitted the necessary documented to those at patenting right away; the fax number she used guaranteed the HoloCell – she still didn't like the name – would receive prompt attention. But Sakura would wait until decent hours to contact the manufacturing divisions; many there already thought her a fool, and adding eccentric to her description was not good business sense.

So she settled on the couch for a much desired rest.

Domino High School started at eight-thirty, so Sakura resolved to wake an hour earlier, which would be time enough to fully rouse and become reasonably sensible. There was no alarm clock in the suite's main room, so she left a note on the coffee table.

Her father found her a winsome state Friday morning. Sakura was curled around a couch armrest and her deep breathing indicated the soundness of her sleep. He loathed having to disturb her, but he knew how cross she would be if he let her doze, so he shook her lightly. She groaned and turned away but he persisted, calling her name: "Sakura, it's time to wake up."

She groaned again. "Why, what time is it?"

"It's half past seven."

"Mmh." Sakura sat up and leaned against him, eyes still closed. After a while, she mumbled, "I love you, Daddy. Can I go back to sleep now?"

The offered collateral made her father laugh; the argument had been Sakura's trademark when she was little. He had always remained firm but kind in response, and he did so now. "I love you, too, torai-kun. Now wake up."

"I told you not to call me that," Sakura said with a yawn. She got up and drifted away to perform her morning rituals.

Half an hour later, Sakura was on the phone. "Did you get the fax?"

"Yes." The voice sounded patient. Or enduring.

"All of the pages."

"Yes."

"I need you to make seven of these. Think of them as improved HoloCells. You should find a list of required procurements, a well as detailed diagrams regarding construction in the transmission."

There was the sound of rustling interjected by a pause. The voice sounded different now. "This looks like it could work. How many did you want?"

Sakura smirked. _Now you pay attention_. "Seven. Charge the materials to my account."

"Yes'm. And when do you want them by?"

_The weekend should be enough time. _"Monday."

"We'll get started on your order right away."

"Mmm." Sakura hung up and yawned as she gathered her things for school.

"I told you you'd come up with something," her father said.

Sakura was too torpid to come up with a quip, so she just shook her head vaguely as she narrowly dodged the door jamb and left.

Yugi also came to school yawning. When her eyes kept closing during calculus – a class he was willing to improve in with Yami's help – the spirit became concerned. _Aibou?_

_Mmm?_

_Why are you drowsing in class?_

Yugi sat up and rested his chin on a fist. _No I'm not._

_If you have been paying attention, what has the teacher been talking about_?

The boy cast about for an answer. _Um, differentials_.

Yami Yugi had to smile. At least his partner had been attentive the rest of the week. _Lucky guess, and you know it. _He paused. _Did you not get enough sleep last night?_

Yugi yawned. _Something like that._

_Why not?_

_I was thinking_. He fingered the Puzzle. _You know, Yami, there are seven Millennium Items. We know about three of the other owners – Pegasus, Bakura, and Shadii – but what about the rest of them? Almost everyone who knows about the Items seems to be after you or your power._

_That's true. But we were able to defeat Bakura's dark side and Pegasus._

_But it was so close!_ Yugi thought, referring to their duel against the latter. _What if you hadn't destroyed his _Jiken Bakudan_? What if you hadn't drawn _Kuriboh_ and destroyed his _Thousand Eyes Idol_? I might not have woken up, we wouldn't have saved Grandpa and the Kaiba brothers, and Pegasus would have gotten our Puzzle. More importantly, I would've lost you. So many things could have gone wrong!_

Yami Yugi was taken aback. Yugi seldom spoke about the duel, about deeply seated fears, preferring to be caught up in life. And now – were those tears in aibou's eyes? He put a hand on Yugi's shoulder. _But in the end, it came down to friends being there for one another. You said that._

_I know … but there's always that nagging feeling, y'know? That next time, that might not be good enough… I keep getting the feeling someone or something is after us._

If he were material, the spirit would have allowed Yugi to shed the tears on his shoulder. As it was, Yami could only verbally comfort him: _Yugi, I promise I will always be with you._

His partner did not respond, and the spirit sighed. _Aibou, you're tired. Let me take over._

Yugi seemed to brighten. _Really?_

_Mind you, I'm only doing this once, _the spirit added. He took possession of Yugi's body.

The hikari yawned. _Thanks._

Yami checked inside himself to make sure his partner was resting. Then he sat at attention and listened to Mr. Yamada.

Seto started. He had sensed something. He glared at Yugi, but the irritation had no foundation and passed quickly.

Sakura snatched a wink when he could. She dozed during the transitions between classes and had just settled in for an hour-long snooze when Seto came around. "Sakura," he said.

She tried to ignore him, hoping he would leave her alone, but he was persistent. That, and there was an edge growing in his voice as he repeated her name. "Nh… what is it?" she mumbled into her sleeve.

Seto growled – this impudence was a slap in the face. He wondered why he was even bothering with this. "My chauffeur will pick you up tonight at six."

She turned her head to look at him. "And why is this?" she asked.

"Mokuba wants to see you."

"Ah." Sakura seemed to accept this passively. Then she caught up. Her brows furrowed and she sat up, shaking her head in confusion. "Wait. What? What would Mokuba want with me?"

The delayed reaction was more than obvious to Seto but he said nothing of it. Instead he answered: "He wants to invite a friend over."

Sakura was presently too obtuse to catch the way he spat out the word "friend." "Doesn't he have any normal friends, you know, friends his own age?" she asked.

"Are you declining the offer?"

Again she missed the derision completely. She shook her head. "No," she said in a detached way. "I was just wondering …"

"It's none of your concern," Seto said crisply.

"Sure it is," Sakura said. "I'm the one being invited. I mean, why can't you tell me? Do you not know?"

He only said, "Tonight at six."

Mentally spent and looking forward to resuming her nap, Sakura acquiesced. "Okay. Fine. Whatever. I'll be there," she said tiredly, and she buried her face in her sleeve again, making it clear to Seto that there would be no point in a rejoinder.

Sakura's sleep was such that she did not hear the bell when lunch ended. Yugi was still resting as well, and the spirit did not have the heart to wake either of them. Consequently, his aibou continued to miss class and Sakura continued to doze with her right hand hanging off the corner of her desk as she sighed into the crook of her left arm.

Mr. Sullivan could not fail to notice Sakura's drowsing when he entered. But the English teacher was easy-going and of jocular wit, and he waited until the students had settled into their after-lunch torpor before going into action. Holding a finger to his lips for silence, he printed instructions – in English, of course – on the overhead projector: "We are going to play a joke on Sakura. Leave the classroom quietly – take your things."

Suddenly the students were revitalized. "Hee hee, jus' like da teach' ta know how ta get dings goin'," Joey said.

"I don't know," Téa said. "Isn't it a little mean to jumpstart things at someone's expense?"

Joey shook his head in a superior manner. "Ah, you'll neva get dese dings, Téa." They caught up to Tristan and Yami Yugi just outside the classroom door. Joey held back to add, "'ey, Teach, if you're doin' what I dink you're doin', don't ferget ta adjust da clock. S'kura's pretty bright."

Mr. Sullivan smiled and tapped his nose in acknowledgement. "Joey, you can take care of that. The rest of you, stay here," he said to the juniors. He slipped into an adjacent classroom and returned with Mr. Ooguchi. After being briefed, the physics teacher entered the recently vacated room and covered the overhead projector's screen with the diagrams and discussions he had just left. Then he tapped Sakura lightly on the shoulder. She stretched and tried to conceal a catlike yawn before saying, "Gomenne – it'll never happen again."

"Probably not," Mr. Ooguchi said. "You missed the final bell. School's over."

"What?" Sakura said in disbelief. "It can't be!" Ignoring the watch on her left wrist, Sakura glanced at the clock Joey had fixed. She shook her head. "But that doesn't make any sense. Why didn't anyone wake me?"

"We were just leaving you to your own devices, which was what usually ended up happening anyway," Mr. Ooguchi said.

"Still – " Sakura began. A bell interrupted her and she started. "What was that?" she asked.

"That's for administrative purposes."

Sakura looked doubtful. She studied Mr. Ooguchi. "I almost believe you."

The teacher shrugged. "Check the hallways if you want. They'll be empty."

She headed for the exit. "They'd be empty even if school weren't over – students are to remain in their respective classrooms during the day."

Sakura opened the door and was startled into jumping when the entire class – or very nearly – yelled, "Boo!" She clawed the air behind her for some support but found none, and she fell.

Téa stepped forward and offered a hand. "Are you okay?"

She took it, grunting as she pulled herself up. She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. "Yeah. I'm fine. I just feel kinda dumb."

Joey inserted himself. "Eh, dink of it as initiation. You are now officially part of Class 1-B." He shook his head. "Man, you shoulda seen yourself when we surprised ya. Hee hee, it was priceless."

As Mr. Sullivan herded the class back in, Sakura discovered she was acutely aware of herself for the first time in her life. The humiliation she had recently suffered, however, was different from that she was used to – it would be followed by acceptance rather than further debasement. Thus she was able to accept her embarrassment with a sort of grace, and she wore a small smile to show she harbored no ill will while avoiding eye contact by studying the floor.

Seto had been waiting to repay Sakura for dethroning him in his own home on Wednesday. "Smooth move back there," he said with a smirk as he walked past her to his desk, and he decided that the color that appeared in her cheeks was more effective than any artificial blush.

The smirk on Seto's face returned when the chauffeur arrived with Sakura at a quarter of six. "Don't trip," he said in mock concern as she ascended the stairs. Again, the red rose, but she said nothing.

Mokuba greeted her at the door, excited Seto had relented. "Sakura," he said when she was inside. "Guess how my cranes I've got now?"

She indulged him. "How many?"

"Thirty," he said proudly. "If I make ten a day, it'll take just over three months."

"Mmm," Sakura nodded. She glanced at Seto, but he gave no sign of approval or dissent. "So, why exactly am I here?" she asked.

Mokuba did not answer the question, but pulled her by the hand to the living room, where there were several games set up. "What are you up for?"

Looking at the toys, Sakura realized how long it had been since last she played. Recreationally analyzed games, yes, but actually sat down and relaxed? She shook her head. "I've never played any of these – I've always been more of a reader."

"We'll have to fix that later," Mokuba said. "I don't feel like teaching right now." He studied Sakura. Perhaps the similarities with his brother also included her interests. "How about chess? Or Duel Monsters?"

She looked rueful. "I haven't played chess in a while. And I didn't bring my deck with me."

The boy shrugged. "I haven't played in awhile either. As for a deck, we've got some extra cards – I'm sure you could a respectable deck out of those."

"All rights," Sakura said. "Lead me to them, O Playful One."

There was a shelf across the room from the television and video collection. Mokuba knelt before it – Sakura followed suit – and he pulled several binders from the bottom shelf. They were white, with the KaibaCorp logo impressed near the top of the spine. Sakura opened one of them and was amazed.

"This is one of the binders that's just for Monster Cards," Mokuba said. "At first they were organized by respective strengths – strongest first – but Seto gets new cards regularly, so keeping up the system is a waste of time." He watched Sakura leisurely flip through the contents, lingering when items caught her fancy. "And of course, there are binders for Trap Cards and Magic Cards."

"And I can choose any of them to play with?" Sakura asked.

Mokuba glanced up at Seto, who was standing nearby, observing the proceedings. The older brother considered briefly before giving a small nod. "Sure," Mokuba said. He slid the rest of the binders closer to her. "Here, you can pick out your cards while I get my deck from my room."

"Okay," Sakura said with a nod. She watched Mokuba disappear up the stairs before assembling a deck under Seto's scrutiny. She went through the binders methodically, taking what she wanted and ignoring everything else, and Seto found her decisiveness in her favor. _But whether or not her choices were any good remains to be seen_, he thought.

Presently, Mokuba returned with his deck and two game mats. These were bulkier than normal, and hologram projectors could be plugged into them. He set them up on the table at the hub of the horseshoe of Ottomans. "Wanta watch, niisama?" he said.

"I suppose," Seto said. He sat in the middle of the couch that completed the ring of furniture, where he would watch without bias.

"How are we playing?" Sakura asked as she drew her starting hand.

"We're each starting at eight thousand Life Points," Mokuba said. "We have to Tribute for any Monster with more than four stars, and we can attack the other person's Life Points directly if they have no Monsters to block the attack." He grinned at Sakura. "I'll let you go first."

Seto raised his eyebrows – his brother only made the offer when he had a good hand. But would Sakura know that? She drew. "All right. I'll play _Neo the Magical Swordsman_ in Attack Mode and set one card facedown. Your move."

"Wait for it…" Mokuba said.

Sakura cocked her head and furrowed her brows. She heard a humming and realized what he had been talking about it. Before her, in the center of the table, was a seven-inch tall Duel Monster standing in front of a set card. "Nice," she said appreciatively.

Mokuba shrugged. "Enh, they're not the best." He picked up a card. "I'll set this Monster and these three cards facedown."

Sakura drew. "I Summon my _Amazoness Paladin _in Attack Mode. Now, _Neo_, go for his facedown Monster!"

"You attacked my _Des Koala_, activating its special effect," Mokuba said. "For each card in your hand, you lose 400 Life Points, and I count four."

She scowled. "So my score drops to 6500, counting the difference between my attack and defense."

"You don't need to keep track," Mokuba said. "There's a counter in the upper right corner of the mat. … Shall I go?" She nodded once. He drew and grinned. "I call forth _La Jinn, the Mystical Genie of the Lamp_, and he's more than a match for either of your Monsters. _La Jinn_, destroy her _Swordsman_!"

"No, _Neo_!" Sakura said as the holographic representation exploded into pieces. "I liked him … My move?" she asked.

"Go ahead."

She picked up a card and smiled. "I'm playing the _Pot of Greed_ I just pulled." She drew two more cards. "And now I've got someone who can beat your _La Jinn_. _Gemini Elf_, Twin Swords Attack." Mokuba groaned as his Life Points dropped to 7900. "And with the _Elf _on my side, I'll be able to even our scores."

Mokuba set the card he drew facedown. "This Monster in Defense Mode, and that's all."

Sakura paused briefly after she drew, and Seto discerned she was considering her options – specifically, would attacking Mokuba's set Monster be a good idea? She quickly laid a card, so that she could not change her mind. "I Summon _Dark Blade_," she said. "He will destroy the facedown card while _Gemini Elf_ rids the Field of your _Des Koala_." And now – " She stopped herself. Her _Dark Blade_ seemed unable to disengage itself from some kind of sea vessel. "What is this?"

Her opponent chuckled. "That's _Yomi Ship_'s effect: it takes the Monster that destroyed it with it to the Graveyard. Good-bye, _Dark Blade_."

Sakura frowned. Two good offensive Monsters in three Turns. "_Amazoness Paladin_," she said. "Avenge the warrior: attack Mokuba directly!"

Mokuba guarded against the miniature hologram with an arm. But the attack was programmed to go through, and he grunted in pain. She gasped, surprised that he had been hurt. "Mokuba, are you all right?" she said, concerned.

He nodded. "I'll be fine, the hologram safeties are on." He scowled as his Life Points fell to 6200. "My move." He drew and set the card. "I'll play one card facedown and Summon this in Attack Mode: _Nin-Ken Dog_! Destroy the _Paladin_!"

"No matter," Sakura said. "My _Gemini Elf_ will take your dog down." She picked up a card. "I'll play this Monster in Defense Mode and have my Monster attack!"

"Think again," Mokuba said. "I activate this Quick Play Magic Card, _Rush Recklessly_!" She gasped. "My _Nin-Ken Dog_ temporarily gains 700 Attack Points, but that's long enough to carry out a counterattack." His Monster's attack strength rose to 2500, and a flashing hologram reminded them of the _Elf's_ attack strength: 1900. "_Nin-Ken Dog_, destroy her _Elf_!"

She said nothing, but Seto could sense her chagrin. The dog had cost her 700 Life Points, bringing her to 5700. "Make your move," she said. A little crisply, Seto thought.

"Okay," Mokuba said. He picked up a card and thought briefly. "I'll play a Monster facedown and wipe out your defense. _Nin-Ken Dog_, Slashing Bite Attack."

"Unh unh unh," Sakura said as she flipped the set Monster Card. "I'm afraid your mutt doesn't have enough power to erase my _Spirit of the Harp_. Instead, you lose 200 Life Points. My move." She drew. "I'll set one Monster in Defense Mode and play these two cards facedown. Your turn."

Mokuba picked up a card. He looked up at Sakura. "The Monster I just drew will render all of your Traps useless."

Sakura's eyes widened. "Not … _Jinzo_?"

"The one and only," he said. "Because he has six stars, I need to Sacrifice a Monster before I can bring 'im out. So I'll Tribute my facedown Monster, _Battle Footballer_, for him. Come forth, _Jinzo_!" Bits of hologram swirled to form the eight-inch Duel Monster. "_Jinzo_, destroy her _Spirit of the Harp_." The spellcaster went with a shriek, but that was all. "And now _Nin-Ken Dog_, attack the facedown Monster." The holograms revealed a small axe-wielding beast. Mokuba gasped. "No!"

Sakura smiled smugly. "Yup, it's _Hane-Hane_, and while he disappears from the Field, he also sends a Monster on the Field back to your hand. And guess who I choose – _Jinzo_." She waved a condescending farewell. "Bye-bye, _Jinzo_."

"Gone, but not destroyed," Mokuba said. "He'll be back."

"Until then, my move!" She drew. "I play _Archfiend Soldier_! He attacks your _Dog_ and reduces your lead to 200 points. We're nearly tired, Moki-chan," she noted. "I'll end my turn."

Mokuba picked up a card. "This Monster in Defense. Your move."

Sakura drew and set two cards facedown. This time she attacked the facedown card without hesitation. Seto recognized the strategy: Even if was a Monster with a nasty effect, it was better to force its activation and possibly rid the Field of the Monster than wait for Mokuba to activate it at his leisure. "Go, _Archfiend Soldier_!" she said.

"You've revealed my _Cyber Jar_," and not only does it clear the Field of all of our Monsters, but if forces us to pick up five cards, show them to each other, and Special Summon any Monsters of Level Four or below to the Field." He picked up his cards. "I've got _Emblem of Dragon Destroyer, Neo Bug, Stop Defense, Great Angus,_ and _Sea Serpent Warrior of Darkness._ What've you got?"

Sakura looked away as she showed him her hand: _Zolga, Soul Tiger, Fairy of the Spring, Aqua Madoor, _and _Cosmo Queen_. "I set my _Zolga, Tiger, _and _Aqua Madoor_ in Defense Mode."

_Not so confident now, hmm_? Seto thought.

"I'm putting my _Bug_, _Angus, _and _Serpent Warrior_ in attack position." Mokuba said. "Is it my turn now?" She nodded, so he drew. "You know what's coming next, Sakura."

"Come again?" she said. Then her eyes widened with realization. "Oh, no…"

"Oh, yes!" Mokuba said triumphantly. "I Sacrifice _Great Angus_ for _Jinzo_! _Jinzo_, attack the facedown card in the middle!" A Spellcaster with blue-white hair and a long green robe appeared on the Field briefly before dashing into pieces. "How was that?" he asked.

"Pretty good," Sakura admitted, "but the conditions have changed since your Machine was last on the Field."

"What?" Mokuba said. "That was only four turns ago."

"Believe me, Moki-chan," Sakura said as she drew, "that was enough. First, I'm going to discard this – " She placed the _Fairy of the Spring_ Magic Card in her Graveyard. " – so I can activate _Cost Down_, which lowers the level of all of the Monsters in my hand my two. Now, I'll take control of your _Jinzo_ with this: _Change of Heart_!"

"No!" Mokuba futilely grabbed for the Monster.

"You can't do anything to stop it, Moki-chan; I've only activated Magic Cards," Sakura said. "And now, I'll Tribute him for my _Cosmo Queen_! _Cosmo Queen_, come forth and attack his _Neo Bug_! Spatial Shock!"

Seto mentally applauded the move. With one stroke, she had rid the Field of his brother's strongest Monster and taken a two-thousand point bite out of his score.

Mokuba held his arm up to block and grunted from the force of the attack, and as the aftermath cleared, he saw his Life Points drop to 4800. "My move," he said and drew. He set the card down. "I'll play this facedown and activate this – _Emblem of Dragon Destroyer_, which allows me to add a _Buster Blader _to my Hand. Next, I'll play _Double Spell_, which duplicates the effects of every Magic Card you used on your last turn, Sakura."

She gasped. "My _Cost Down_ and _Change of Heart_!"

"Yup," Mokuba said. "I'm taking control of your _Cosmo Queen_ and using it as a Tribute for my dragon warrior. And that's not all. I'm using _Stop Defense_ so that I can inflict damage to your Life Points." He pointed to the card on his right. "Call forth your Monster." Sakura flipped it, gasping when she revealed _Soul Tiger_, whose Attack Points were nonexistent. Mokuba pulled a fist. "Awesome! Now, _Buster Blader_ – "

"Reveal Trap Cards, _Ring of Destruction_ and _Barrel Behind the Door_!" Sakura said. "The first destroys your Monster and inflicts Direct Damage equal to its attack to both of our Life Points, while the second Trap spares my Life Points at the cost of yours." She grinned. "This duel is over."

"Think again!" Mokuba said. "I've got a Trap of my own – _Ring of Defense_! It negates all of that."

"No!" Sakura cried. "I was so close!"

"And remember, it's still my Battle Phase," he said, "so although my _Buster Blader_'s gone, my _Serpent _can still attack." Sakura's eyes widened and she gasped. "Go, _Sea Serpent Warrior of Darkness_! Destroy her _Soul Tiger_ with Fatal Tide Force!"

_Very good manners, Mokuba, _Seto thought. _You're returning the favor_. He watched Sakura guard against the attack. This was the first time she had been on the receiving end of a major blow, and he could tell that she was somewhat surprised by the realism. She coughed and waved away the dense mist that covered her side of the Field, and she growled as she watched her score drop to 3900. "I draw," she said and, after glancing briefly at the card, continued: "And I'll switch my remaining Monster, _Zolga_ into Attack Mode. Then I'll equip it with this Magic Card, _Malevolent Nuzzler_, which strengthens my fairy by 700 points. Now, _Zolga_, attack his _Serpent_ with Cyclone Strike!" She watched his Life Points decrease to 4200. "There. So much for your lead. Your move, Moki-chan."

Mokuba drew. "I set this Monster in Defense and end my turn."

"Mmm." Sakura looked at her new card. "For my move, _Zolga _attacks."

"You've revealed my _Witch of the Black Forest_," Mokuba said. "When she's sent to the Graveyard, I can add a Monster with a Defense of 1500 or below to my hand." Seto watched his brother quickly go through his deck – no doubt he already knew what he wanted. Then he drew. "Again, I'll play a Monster in Defense Mode and pass."

Sakura picked up a card. "I set two cards facedown and I attack your facedown defense," she said. "Cyclone Strike!" A large bug flickered and grabbed a hold of her Fairy Monster, taking him with it as it exploded into holographic shards. "No! _Zolga_!"

"Too bad," Mokuba said as he drew, "but now you're open to a direct attack!" Sakura gasped. He continued: "I Summon _Warrior Dai Grepher _in Attack Mode!" _Warrior_, take out her Life Points! Skilled Lash Attack!"

Seto watched with approval. That was tow major attacks in a row. He snickered softly – again, Sakura had braced herself against the impact, but now she was holding onto the table. As her Life Point counter dropped to 2200, her brows furrowed, and she realized the tangible force was dependent not only on the strength of the Monster attacking, but also on what fraction of her Life Points was left. Seto had to give her credit for figuring this out so quickly.

Sakura picked up a card. "This Monster in Defense Mode. Your move," she said tersely.

Mokuba chuckled. "Lighten up, Sakura," he said as he drew. "It's just a game. … Now, I Sacrifice my _Warrior_ for _Chaos Command Magician_. Attack the facedown card with Iron Sceptre Blast!"

"You've revealed my _Magician of Faith_," Sakura said, "and her brief visit allows me to reborn a Magic Card." She drew. "I'll play this again: _Pot of Greed_." She set on of the cards she picked up. "And just this facedown Monster."

"Aw," Mokuba said. "I suppose those two extra cards couldn't help you."

"We'll see," she said. Seto could tell the condescension was getting to her. _Plus_, he thought, _if Mokuba plays his cards right, this duel'll end next turn_.

Mokuba drew. "_Blindly Loyal Goblin_! Attack the facedown card."

The _Mystical Elf_ revealed herself, causing him to exclaim "Nuts!" He had just lost two hundred Life Points for nothing. "Well, _Chaos Command Magician_, take a shot!" Mokuba said. "_Iron Sceptre Blast_!"

"Activate Trap!" Sakura said.

"What?" Mokuba said. "No!"

"My _Mystical Elf_ isn't leaving the Field alone. Your attack triggered my Trap Card, _Sakuretsu Armor_, and it destroys the attacking Monster."

"Oh," Mokuba groaned. "But he just got on the Field. I'm setting one card facedown and ending my turn."

Sakura drew. "First I'm going to play this Magic Card: _Earthquake_. It forces all face-up Monsters to switch to Defense Mode. At the moment, that means your _Goblin_."

_Now he's vulnerable to an attack,_ Seto thought.

"Now, I Summon _Harpie's Brother_ to the Field," Sakura said. "Attack, my Winged Beast! Take down his _Goblin_!" Her Monster used a scratch attack on Mokuba's and the separate pieces of _Goblin_ slid their different directions before combusting. "I'll end my turn by setting two cards facedown."

Mokuba picked up a card. "I defend with this. That's all."

Sakura also picked up a card. "For my move, I'm Tributing the _Harpie _so I can Summon _Marie, the Fallen One_."

Seto leaned forward. _Why did she Sacrificed for a weaker Monster?_ He thought. _True, the _Fallen One_ has a special effect: for every turn it's in the Graveyard, Sakura recovers two hundred Life Points, but it's too late to receive any benefit from this. So she has to be planning something, but what? _He glanced at Mokuba, but his brother was just as bemused.

"_Marie_, attack the facedown card!"

Mokuba waved a reprimanding index finger as the Monster appeared. "Tsk tsk tsk, Sakura," he said. "_Banisher of the Light's _got two thousand Defense Points, so now you're out three hundred Life Points." He drew. "For my move, I'll Summon _Kabazauls _in Attack Mode and leave it at that."

Sakura picked up a card. "First, I'll Summon _Serpentine Princess _in Attack Mode." The hologram projectors whirred, and she continued: "Then I'll activate the Magic Card _Tribute Doll_, allowing me to Special Summon a Level 7 Monster if I Sacrifice a beast first. So I Tribute the _Princess_ I just Summoned for _Guardian Angel Joan_!"

Her opponent was not worried. "But the Magic Card states she has to wait until next turn to attack." _And I've already got something that can beat it._

"True," Sakura said, "which is why I'm activating _Pyro Clock of Destiny_! It advances the turn count by one turn, allowing her to attack now! _Guardian Angel Joan_ – "

"Reveal facedown card!" Mokuba said. "_Book of Moon_!"

"No!" Sakura watched her Monster halt and kneel.

"This forces your Monster into Defense Mode," Mokuba said. "I guess she'll have to wait yet another turn."

"Fine," Sakura said. "I'll just play this card facedown and end this one."

Mokuba drew and he did not try to maintain a straight face. "It's all over for you, Sakura," he said, "starting now."

"How so?"

"First I activate this Magic Card – _Snatch Steal_," Mokuba said. "It lets me control one of your Monsters, provided that you'll gain 1000 Life Points for every turn I control it, starting with your next turn, but believe me, it's not gonna be around for even that long. And guess which Monster I'm taking."

Sakura gasped. "My _Angel Joan_!"

"Right again," Mokuba said. "And I'm Tributing it with my _Banisher of the Light_ so I can Summon _Mystical Knight of Jackal_. _Mystical Knight_, come forth!"

The hologram that appeared took Sakura's breath away. It was twice as large as the normal Duel Monster, and as she was kneeling at the table, it seemed to tower over her. It was wearing Middle Eastern dress, and it returned her speechless gaze with indifferent observance. It seemed so familiar to her … where had she had seen it before?

"_Jackal Knight_," Mokuba said, interrupting Sakura's abstraction, "attack her _Fallen One_! Lethal Sabre Slash!"

"Not so fast, Moki-chan," Sakura said. "Activate Trap Card – _Negate Attack_! You won't be able to get rid of me that easily."

"Well, I can still rid the Field of your _Fallen One_," Mokuba countered. "Since it's still my turn, I'll activate this: _Raigeki_! This Magic Card will shock your Monster, literally."

Clouds gathered over the Field. Thunder rumbled and lightning struck.

"Hold on," Sakura said, "because I have another facedown card. Reveal _Mystical Ref Panel_!" A female figure with a mirror descended and trapped the energy. "And I think we could do with a couple of new lightning rods, don't you, Moki-chan? _Ref Panel_, redirect _Raigeki_ at his Monsters!"

"No!" Mokuba cried, and he was not the only one who revulsed. Seto looked away and shook his head. Thoughts and images were rushing unbidden to his mind and he could not dismiss them.

Seto noticed his reaction to the activation of her Trap and laughed. "What's the matter, Kaiba?" she asked. "Seein' something you don't like? Your brother's getting trounced."

"No I'm not," Mokuba objected. "I've got twice as many Life Points as you. Besides, my _Knight's_ just on a short break."

"What do you mean?"

"I activate _Monster Reborn_!" Again, a fifteen-inch-tall Duel Monster graced their playing field. "He's back," the boy said with a sing-song voice.

"It can't be!!"

"Now what're you gonna do, Sakura? You don't have a hand, and only one facedown to protect your _Marie the Fallen One_, if that's what it does," Mokuba said. "And on my next turn, you know I'm gonna take her out, as well as the rest of your Life Points."

"We shall see," Sakura said, and she drew.

Seto rationalized his way back to stoicism. _Get a grip_, he told himself. _It's just coincidence that these last couple of moves should mimic my dream. Any good duelist would have counters prepared against that _Raigeki _Magic Card, and Sakura's just happened to be the _Panel.

"_Card of Sanctity_!" Sakura said. "Now both of us must draw until we each hold six cards."

Mokuba drew his cards. He watched Sakura study her new hand. "Well, Sakura? Are they any good?"

"Moki-chan," Sakura said, "I'm going to let you decide for yourself. Now observe. I Summon _The Forgiving Maiden_ and play _Polymerization_ to fuse her with _Marie the Fallen One_. And guess what? My new creature definitely has enough power to wipe out your _Jackal Knight_. Appear, _St. Joan_!"

From a vortex emerged a new female creature. Her hair was cropped. She wore stainless steel armor. A Duel Monsters representation of the woman who had led France to victory in their Hundred Years War against Britain. And with 2800 Attack Points, she was no small matter.

"So?" Mokuba said. "She's a Fusion Monster, so she can't attack until next turn."

"Un. That's why I'm going to play this – _Reborn the Monster_! Bring back _Guardian Angel Joan_!"

There appeared a second female Monster, and when she stood on the Field with the first, they looked formidable indeed.

"Open facedown card!" Mokuba said. "Activate _Adhesion Trap Hole_! Now your _Guardian Angel's Attack Points _are cut in half!"

"Reveal Trap!" Sakura countered. "_Seven Tools of the Bandit_! At the cost of 1000 Life Points, I can negate the activation of – and destroy – your Trap." Her score dwindled to 900.

"No!"

Sakura continued, "Further more, I equip the _Angel_ with the _Cestus of Dagla_ and _United We Stand _Equipment Cards. The first gives _Joan_ a 500-point power boost, and the second raises her attack by 800 points for every Monster on my side of the Field, bringing her to a whopping 4900 Attack Points.

"And finally … Moki-chan, you thought I only had one attacking Monster. That would be true, except that I'm activating this!" She played the last card from her hand. "_Quick Attack!_ It lets Fusion Monsters attack during the same turn in which they were Summoned. So as you see, it will be a dual strike that will finish you off."

"I can't lose!" Mokuba said. "I had it made!"

"_St. Joan_, attack his _Jackal Knight _with Falchion of Fortitude!" Mokuba's Monster let of a death howl as it was defeated, and with it went the boy's hope of winning the duel. "Now _Guardian Angel Joan_," Sakura continued, "wipe out the rest of his Life Points! Seraphic Strike!"

By flapping her wings, _Guardian Angel Joan_ was able to rise above the playing field. After attaining a decent height, she folded them, and dove for Mokuba, wielding her divine staff. He bent his head and braced himself for the attack, but he could still feel the impact of the crushing shockwave, and he yelled in pain. "Mokuba!" Seto cried, and he swooped to his brother's side. Also concerned, Sakura dashed around the table and took a place on his other side.

But it did not last long – as soon as his Life Point counter finished enumerating from 3900 to zero, the synthesized force abated. The holograms disappeared with a soft whir, and Mokuba opened his eyes. His first sight was the two hovering over him. "Moki-chan, are you okay?"

He sat up. "Yeah. I'm fine. They're only holograms."

Satisfied that his brother was indeed all right, Seto return to the couch. Sakura looked at the elder Kaiba curiously but said nothing. Instead she asked Mokuba, "You sure?" as she helped him up.

"Mm-hmm," he said with a nod. He shook his head in disbelief. "That was an awesome match. Where'd you learn to duel like that?"

"I just follow the tournaments."

Mokuba doubted that, but he did not prod. Things will reveal themselves when they will. Instead, he asked Sakura if she wanted to play something else.

She said yes, and they played _Twister_. Mokuba said she was flexibly, and Seto silently agreed.

She still fell down a lot.

Sakura got home at half past ten. Her father noted the plate of the limousine she returned in and asked her what Kaiba had wanted.

"His brother wanted to play." She paused. "He's totally carefree. I like that."

"And what of Kaiba?" her father inquired. "He doesn't strike me as the sportive type."

"He isn't," Sakura confirmed. "He needs to relax. Relaxing as nice." She headed for her room. "'Night, Daddy."

"Good night, torai-kun."

She growled softly but said nothing. He chuckled and continued reading.


	8. Transitions

_**Author's Note:** Sakura remarks on a pun in this chapter. To understand it, you need to know that the name Kiyoshito is made up of two kanji: the first (JIS code, 4369_)_ means "loyalty, fidelity, or faithfulness"; the second (JIS code, 3F4D) just means person. Also, please note that I have made this name up. Although I have a sort of grasp on the Japanese language, I am sadly lacking in knowledge of Japanese culture, especially names and so forth. Lastly, I rediscovered where I had the last two chapters, and the epilogue, on my computer, so those will be published in the upcomping weeks..._

_And now, for your reading pleasure:  
_

Chapter Eight – Transitions

_Ah, Yugi, you should know – you're going to the game with Téa tomorrow morning._

Yugi stopped fumbling with a stubborn pajama button. "Game? What game?"

The spirit assumed a corporeal form on the edge of Yugi's bed. "The soccer match tomorrow. I overheard Joey and Tristan speaking about it today and asked Téa if she would go with you – well, I said 'me' – and she accepted the invitation. Was that all right?"

The boy fallumped onto the edge of his bed. "Yeah, sure." He paused. "Just curious, why'd you ask?"

Yami Yugi studied him. "I thought it would do to get your mind off of things. You seemed so upset yesterday –"

"Oh, that," Yugi interjected. "Don't worry about that," he said quickly.

The spirit raised his eyebrows. He had forgotten how important machismo was to a boy his age. "And what with finals coming up, it felt like a good idea," he continued smoothly. Yami Yugi grinned at his aibou. "Besides, you'll be spending time Téa, and as I understand it, that's not a bad thing."

Yugi groaned and tossed a pillow at the spirit, saying, "Why do you know all this!?" To his frustration, the cushion passed through Yami, so Yugi had to go pick it up from off the floor. On the way back, he futilely swung the pillow before flopping onto his bed. "Why do you even try?" Yami Yugi asked with a chuckle.

His partner buried his face under the pillow. "Mmmfeh," he said, muffled.

The spirit retreated into his puzzle for the night.

***

Solomon Moto was sweeping the area in front of his Kame Game Shop when Téa arrived the next day. "Good morning, Mr. Moto!" she said.

"Ah, Téa," he stopped to reply. "Good morning. Yugi's upstairs getting ready. I'll call him down for you. Would you like something to drink?"

"Uh, no thanks," she said. "We're running a little late."

"Mmm." The grandfather yelled at a second story window: "Yugi! Téa's here!"

"I'll be right there, Grandpa!" Yugi called back. He put on his Millennium Puzzle. He had recently replaced his original leather cord with a metal chain, which felt cold around his neck. _This new chain oughta keep my Millennium Puzzle safe_, he thought.

His partner appeared in the mirror before him. "And we're going to need it now more than ever," he said.

"We are?" Yugi said. "What do you mean by that?"

"The Millennium Puzzle connects us, Yugi, and I sense fate has more in store for us." The spirit did not add that he had been musing on his partner's thoughts.

Yugi was back to his normal self. He fingered the Item. "Well, we're in this together, no matter what."

Yami Yugi nodded. "Good. I wish I knew more, aibou, but our future is still unclear to me."

Lastly, Yugi put on his school jacket. "I'll be there to help you figure it out."

Téa was tapping her foot impatiently when Yugi stepped out of his grandfather's game shop. "About time, Yugi!"

"Sorry, Téa," he said.

"We're gonna be late for the big game!" Téa said. "What took you so long?"

Yugi hesitated. "Aah, I was talking to the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle. He seems kind of worried."

"About what?"

"About the future, I think," Yugi said. "He said something about our destiny being … 'unclear.' But whose isn't? A lot of times, the spirit has a sort of devil-may-care attitude, and he's curious about everything, as if to make up for those five thousand years he was between selves. But sometimes he's serious. That's when he starts talking about fate, like there's something more he has to do. When you think about it, he doesn't really know that much about himself, like where he came from, and why he's here. … But I'm babbling, and you said we're running late."

Téa blinked in confusion. "Huh?"

"We should go," Yugi said.

"Oh, right!" Téa exclaimed. "The soccer game! We definitely don't wanna miss it!" She started off with Yugi. "See ya, Mr. Moto!"

"Bye, Grandpa!" Yugi said. "We'll see ya later!"

"Enjoy yourself, you two!" Mr. Moto called after them. "If the game ends early, feel free to come back and help me sweep!"

Yugi was quiet as he walked with Téa. "So, why do you think is going to win?" she said in an effort to start a conversation.

He looked up, with furrowed brows. "Win? Win what?"

"Earth to Yugi," Téa said. "The soccer game. At school?"

"Oh," said Yugi. "Uh, I don't know, erm …"

Téa looked at him curiously. "You don't really care much about sports, do you?" _So who invited me to the game?_ she thought. _Could it have been – _

"Future told. Fates unfold," said a man sitting behind a table in an alley. All but the blonde stubble on his face was covered in purple robes. He beckoned. "Step up, boy, and I'll reveal the secrets of your future."

Téa realized she was walking alone. "Yugi? Huh?"

Yugi had stopped in front of the table. "Can you really see into the future?"

"Yes," the robed man said with a soft snicker.

"What are you doing, Yugi?"

He looked at her. "Téa, maybe this fortune teller can help me figure out the fate of the spirit inside the Puzzle."

She relunctantly agreed: "Hmm, okay. But we really don't have that much time."

"Boy, in order to tell your future, I must hold a personal item," the man said to Yugi.

"Really?"

"Your necklace will do nicely," he commented.

"My what?" Yugi said, stepping back. "No. I'm sorry. I can't."

"Then I can't tell your fortune."

Yugi was doubtful. "Yeah, but – "

"I need it in order to properly read your aura, to see what fate has in store for you," the man explained. "You do want to know, don't you?" He held out his hand for the Item. "Your fate?"

The boy relented. "Okay," he said, "but only for a second."

Yugi took off his Puzzle and placed it in the man's hands. Neither he nor Téa saw the man smirk, but Téa was still uncertain: "Yugi, I don't know about this."

"Hmm…" the robed man began. "Something's coming to me. I see this Millennium Item now belongs … to me!" He kicked at the table, causing it to fall and Yugi and Téa to overbalance. Then he disappeared with a cackle.

"My Millennium Puzzle!" Yugi yelled as he fell. "Come back here!!"

"He's getting away!" Téa exclaimed. "What do we do?"

Yugi got up with a grunt and started chasing after the man. "I'll follow him this way. You try to cut him off around the corner."

"You got it, Yugi!" Téa yelled.

"You won't get away with this, you creep!" Yugi yelled at the thief. _I can't believe I handed him my Puzzle_!

He turned a corner and stopped. There were rather helpful signs affixed to the walls of another alley. "Huh? Arrows? That thief wants me to follow him!" Yugi followed a few, and they led to more arrows. "This must be a trap, but what choice do I have? I can't lose the spirit of the Puzzle. I won't!"

***

Sakura was lying across an armchair flipping through television channels looking for something to watch when a live news report caught her attention. A roughed-up spiky-haired boy was sitting in a hospital bed. Two of the friends around him seemed to be fighting over his food – it sounded like Jell-O and a sandwich – while the third was exceptionally quiet.

"…friends rescued him from a burning warehouse earlier this afternoon." The reported leaned in. "Now Yugi, what were you doing in that warehouse anyway? You said you were on your way to the soccer game at Domino High." She held the microphone in front of him.

"Well, this guy tackled me and stole this Puzzle I'm wearing, so I had to go after him," Yugi said, prudently leaving out the bit about the fortuneteller. "He – "

Sakura relaxed, letting her head hang over the armrest as she stared in nothing in particular. _That bothers me,_ she thought. _What's with that thing he wears around his neck? It almost seems like a hassle, it's so big. So there's got to be something special about it. But what? It looks like a bit of fake gold on a cheap chain, really, so maybe it's something intangible. Sentimental value, perhaps? … No, people tend to leave those kind of things in safe places. So what is it?_

There was a knocking at the door and Sakura rolled off the chair to open it. A man with a thin package met her. He glanced at his clipboard. "This is for Sakura … Yaminayama?"

Sakura nodded. "I am she."

He passed her the board. "Sign here and here," he said pointing. "And then …" -- He waited for her to give back the clipboard. -- "here's your package."

"Thank you," she said.

"Have a nice day," he said with a tip of his blue cap and a small bow, and he left.

"Mmm." Sakura closed the door. She took the package to the coffee table in the middle of the room and upended it. A flat silver-grey device in a plastic bag slid out, as well as a couple of bound pages, an accompanying disk, and an envelope. Sakura removed the plastic and ran her finger over the HoloCell's projectors and sound output at the top, admiring her invention. There was a clasp at the bottom; she undid this and pushed up against the top half of the bottom edge. The lower panel slid into the top, revealing a keypad for manual operation if one did not prefer voice-stimulated technology. She turned it on. A screen appeared and hovered in front of her. Despite being hologram-projected, it was force-sensitive, and she touched it to go through the menu and various functions.

"Very nice," she heard someone say over her shoulder.

Startled, Sakura whirled, arm raised in defense and a hard glint in her eye. Her father laughed as he took her wrist. "What was that?"

She only looked away, gaze lowered. For an instant, she had hoped it was Kawamoto during one of their training sessions. She missed sparring with him. The frustrating way he always managed to read her moves perfectly before she actually executed them, not so much.

"Brains and bite," he commented as he studied her hand. "You got them from your mother," he said quietly. "All of the women in her family had small hands and wrists." He let go and took a seat. "What else was in the package?"

Sakura held up the envelope. "This," she said, and she proceeded to read the short note inside:

"Yaminayama-sama:

"The HoloCell I have sent you in the first of what I hope will be thousands more. The small booklet I included is a draft of the user manual. Please go through it and make sure nothing was overlooked. The rest of the HoloCells will get to you by Sunday evening. They have demonstrated to be rather simple to produce, even by hand.

"Congratulations on having developed such a potentially valuable product. It is an hour to work with you, and I swear my loyalty to you in future endeavors.

"Sincerely, Yoshida Kiyoshito."

She made a face. "Did he intend the pun?"

Her father shrugged. "It's possible. When do you want to meet with those – what did you call them, whores? – again?"

Sakura started going through the manual manuscript. "Whenever the rest come in. Tomorrow, if Kiyoshito gets the estimate right."

"And what about a press conference?" her father continued. "If you're thinking about mainstreaming this, free positive publicity is a good thing. And once you make a couple hundred, you'll have to get beta-testers, so that you can gauge consumer opinion and decide how to effectively market them."

He watched Sakura begin to wilt under his barrage but did not stop. "Are your HoloCells compatible with other communication technologies? For example, can people with cell-phones contact people with Holos and vice-versa? If not, what's going to make people switch to Holos? If so, will you have to set up a subdivision entirely devoted to providing service, or can you set up a contract with existing phone service providers? How long will it take to train technical support? And – "

Sakura closed her eyes, covered her ears, and shook her head violently. "Gah! Stop! I get it!" She felt him muss her hair and opened her eyes. He was giving her an apologetic look.

"I'm sorry, torai-kun," he said. "It doesn't get any easier after this. And you were pretty lucky to end up with something that seems to work. Even the best of inventors had ideas that flopped." He smiled. "But you won't go it alone. I'll reallocate some of the more experienced men to your department and you'll simply have to convent with them occasionally and make the major decisions. So that was probably the first and last hands-on stuff you'll ever have to do." When Sakura frowned, he added, "Or no. If something strikes you and you have the means to implement it, go for it."

"Bah. Industry, Sakura said and lay across the armchair she was in.

"I like industry," her father replied as he picked up the HoloCell. "Have you got anything else on here, or is it still just a kind of cell phone?"

"I probably could get some kind of digital recorder/camcorder on there, as well as internet access. And yes, it is compatible with other stuff," she said.

He hefted it. It was light. "Impressive. I could see myself carrying around one of these."

"Well, don't," Sakura said. "I'll wager I'm going to be seeing enough of them. I don't need to see one in your pocket."

It was one of Kiyoshito's conventions to never speak lightly. As promised, the remaining HoloCells arrived the next day, and although it was still the weekend, Sakura did not have any qualms with surprising Averis, Krauley, and Todee with a meeting that would take place in half an hour. She used one of the HoloCells to contact them.

Or had planned to. After speaking with Averis, she passed the HoloCell to her father. "Why, what happened?" he asked. "Did something go wrong?"

"Oh, he agreed," she said. "It's just that I heard his little light of love in the background going 'No, don't stop. Harder. Harder.' Only more excited." She shook her head. "Bleagh. Men. Why can't they ever stay focused?"

Her father cocked his head. "Hey, what's wrong with us?" He paused and grinned – he could not resist: "And besides, how else do you think your mother conceived you? I'd say she was enjoying the presence of a very focused man."

Sakura groaned. She had been trying to rid herself of images, only to be overwhelmed with a new wave of infinitely more revolting ones. She put her hands over her face. "Daddy?" she said with a sort of whine.

"Mmm?"

"Don't ever do that again. Ever."

"Those were good times," he said. "Very good times."

She could not take any more. "Ugh!" she cried and sought refuge in her room.

Her father reclined in his chair and continued to reminisce. "I miss them," he said softly.

As instructed, the three shareholders were in the boardroom by five o'clock. Averis was uncharacteristically the last to arrive, and Krawley and Todee looked at him oddly. He adjusted his suit as he sat down.

"Good evening, Mr. Averis," Mr. Yaminayama said. "I'm glad you could join us. I trust you've been enjoying your brief stay in Domino?"

Averis frowned. "I have. Now may we know the purpose of this meeting? I have thinks I would rather attend to."

_Indeed_.

"That may be so, but we agreed to reconvene when Sakura thought of a way to end our financial depression."

Krauley raised his eyebrows. "Already? I'm impressed. And here I was preparing for the long haul."

"May we know what she came up with?" Todee asked.

"Sakura," Mr. Yaminayama prompted.

She stood. "Gentlemen," she said. "Allow me to speak without interruption. I heard each of your … arguments the last time we met, and I will address them in due time. But first – " Sakura slid a small device to each of the three men. "You will recall a primitive contrivance I showed to you a quarter ago. It was ambitious: the first HoloCell was simply a hologram projector with a telecommunications function.

"What you hold in your hands is its descendent. It has been refined. Once again, the emphasis is on telecommunications and on convenience. By undoing the clasp at the bottom and pushing the lower panel up, you reveal a keypad. On this pad is the power button – press it, gentlemen. The screen that appears is a hologram, but it responds to your touch. By tapping the word 'Menu,' you have access to a host of functions.

"Calling someone is simple. You may either dial the number using the key-pad, or use the verbal command 'Call So-and-so,' To use the latter, you must obviously program that person number into the HoloCell's address book. When the person is connected, and if they are using a HoloCell, the screen will shrink into a corner while a scale model of the person – or persons if it is a conference call – is projected. Other calls are treated as live-streamed audio files. To receive a call, you press 'talk' or say the words 'receive call.' Alternatively, you can set a code word if you prefer to guard your conversations. And the signal is always strong because the HoloCell communicates directly with the satellites we have in orbit. This is the reason live holograms work.

"At the moment, the HoloCell provides only phone service and limited internet access. By limited, I mean the user can currently only manage a single e-mail account. Because the HoloCell patches in to the satellite, it is possible to provide 'round the clock internet access, however. Self-installing security patches can be downloaded when they come out, and feature upgrades can be bought. Such features could include full internet access, the most up-to-date firewalls for protection against viruses and the like, and the ability to store mp3s. Eventually, a HoloCell could be an entire media center.

"Lastly, it is powered by a combination of kinetic energy and rechargeable batteries. If you remain very silent as you hold a HoloCell to your ear, gentlemen, you pick up the sound of a very small ball rolling inside. That ball is creating the energy that will constantly refuel the batteries. Of course, the HoloCell still needs to be recharged every so often, but it would not take as long as a cell phone does, nor be required as often.

"Does anyone have any questions?"

Krauley remained skeptical. "How do we know these work?"

"Call each other if you wish?" Sakura said. "Trade numbers. You can find your individual number by accessing 'HoloCell Information' on the menu."

Krauley contacted his own cell phone, while Todee established a link with a reluctant Averis. They appeared as holograms on each other's HoloCells. "This is amazing," Todee said, and he was somewhat surprised to see and hear another self.

Averis ended the call, to Todee's disappointment. "So they work. But is there an audience?" he said. "It seems to me one of these could be quite costly, and I know few people with money to burn."

"I have yet to market-test them, Averis," Sakura said with a frown. "Besides, my father and the team that put this together, you are the first to see the HoloCells."

"Do you know how you're going to go about providing service?" Krauley asked.

"At this point, striking a deal with an existing phone service provider looks like the best choice," Sakura said. "However, I believe that eventually it would be better to subcontract to one of our daughter companies when we get out of the red."

"When will the actual business start?" Averis said. "As I've said before, I would like to be reunited with my money."

"If everything proceeds without mishap, my department should be up and running by the end of the month," Sakura said. She watched Averis tap his fingers on the table and noticed something. "Mr. Averis, for someone who likes to keep a close watch on his money, I find it surprising that one of your rings is missing, specifically the one on your left ring finger. Pity, it was a nice love token." She glanced at Krauley and Todee. "Have you any other questions for me?"

"You have not forgotten you only have a quarter?" Krauley said.

She shook her head. "No, gentlemen, I have not. But I would like to advise you this: If it seems I have tapped into a market and yet have not made the difference, it would not be wise to drop my project."

"We will see," Krauley said.

"Shall we quit this meeting?" Mr. Yaminyama said. "It seems my daughter has covered all of the bases."

Averis stood. "I am ready to leave."

"Oh, before you go, gentlemen, may I have the HoloCells back?" Sakura said. "I trust you, but I'm afraid one of them may get … misplaced. If it happens to Mr. Averis, who else might it happen to?"

Todee smiled. "Here you go, then."

Krauley said nothing as he passed.

Averis glowered as he slapped it into her hand. "For your information, the ring isn't misplaced – it is simply in someone else's care right now."

Sakura put the HoloCells into her bag. "Let's hope she doesn't lose it, then, hmm?" she said.

When the three had left, Sakura's father put his hand under her chin, and tilted it up, so that she had to look to him in the eye. "Watch yourself, Sakura," he said. "Take care you don't do that too often. Whether you like them or not, you must be diplomatic and treat them politely, always. Would you speak to me like that?"

She clenched a fist but managed to suppress a growl. _This was a victory – you should congratulate me!_ "No, Daddy. I'll be careful."

"Good girl," he said. "Come, let's go back to the suite."

"Mmm." Sakura lowered her gaze and followed him.


	9. Otanjoubi

_Author's Note: More Attempts at Bilingual Joy_

_"Otanjoubi" = "birthday"_

_"Torai-kun wa itsumo torai-kun" = "Torai will always be Torai."_

_"Baka kiku" = "stupid crysanthemum"_

_"Kigiku" = "yellow crysanthemum"  
_

Chapter Nine -- Otanjoubi

"I don't dink she's comin' t'day, Tristan," Joey said.

"You're probably right." Tristan sounded somewhat dejected. "She said she was only here for a business thing anyway. She probably finished that and checked out already."

"Sma't ding she did dere," Joey went on. "Got ta miss out on all a' da testin'."

**

Seto gave the diagram in his book a nasty glare.

**

Mr. Yaminayama sat at the table in the kitchen, reading reports and whatever else his secretary had faxed him. He absentmindedly stirred his coffee, tracing with his spoon an endless figure-eight pattern, pausing to underline anything that struck him. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed someone also stirring her coffee, and in a similar pattern. At first, he thought nothing of this, but a small part of his mind dwelt on the matter, alerting him a few pages later when it came to a conclusion. He looked up. "Sakura, aren't you supposed to be in school?"

"I don't feel like going," she said.

"Why not?"

"Finals."

"Ahm." He made a few more figure eights. "Sakura, I've been thinking about yesterday. Seeing the HoloCell in its entirety was very telling. Obviously your tutors have done a good job and you have learned well that way.

"However, with the advent of the revitalization of your department, perhaps you'll be too busy for such a rigorous education."

Sakura looked at him. "What are you getting at?"

Mr. Yaminayama returned the gaze. "Can't you tell? I think it would be unfair for any tutor not to have a fully attentive student. Therefore, I will not be hiring a new one to replace Akito and the rest of your schooling will be at an institution of your choosing. With regard to business, you will have someone answerable to you, a sort of intern to acclimate you to your new responsibilities." He studied his daughter. "Is that all right?"

"It's fine." Sakura stood and picked up her bag. "I'm going out."

"What about your coffee?"

"It's cold."

**

_One step forward, two steps back. That's all it ever is. One step forward, two steps back, _Sakura internally raged. _You accept my HoloCell but you challenge my ability to continue handling a tough courseload while managing a department and I don't doubt you are unsure I will make it to the end of the quarter. Snake!_

_Torai-kun, your father's just being cautious_, another part of herself answered. _He doesn't want to overtax you. And what if he got you a permanent personal secretary instead? What if things didn't work out and you had to fire him? Besides, an intern is cheaper._

_Shut up, _Sakura returned. _No one asked you. And why'd you call me torai-kun. I don't call myself that._

_Yeah you do._

_No I don't._

_Toraikun wa itsumo toraikun._

_Leave me alone._

The other her chuckled.

"Miss, where would you like to go today?"

Sakura took stock of where she was, taking care to conceal her disorientation. Sometime during her personal argument she had ended up in one of her daddy's limousines. She scolded herself for not paying attention to herself. "Do you know any good malls?"

"Yes, ma'am."

The limousine started moving and Sakura willed herself to relax. She stared out of the window, only to realize she did not know anything about Domino, though her stay had spanned a week and a half. _Hey, there's a museum here? How long has it been there? I've never noticed it before. _She watched it pass. _I wish it were open._

_**  
_

The museum's curator was currently at the airport. He noted a small private plane sporting white, red, black stripes and a yellow bird on a white field begin its descent and he knew he would not be waiting much longer.

A pretty Egyptian woman entered the terminal. Although she was young, her costume was the traditional ancient dress more popular several thousand years ago. She wore a simple linen one piece with a collar that folded over and became a two-layer. A necklace that featured the Eye of Horus graced her neck. Her medium-length hair was free, save for the tresses on either side of her face, which were bound by golden bands. She did not seem lost; Her blue eyes pierced the crowd and found the person she was looking for immediately.

The curator hailed her. "Ms. Ishtar, on behalf of Domino Museum, welcome to Japan."

She held up a hand. "Thank you, but please, let's get down to business." Her voice had a pleasant hum in it.

He nodded. "Of course. I must say we were surprised that you chose our town to host your Egyptian collection."

"Will they be transported safely and discreetly?" She headed for the limousine he had brought.

The curator hurried to overtake her. "Don't worry. Since you warned us that thieves have been after your rare artifacts, we've taken extra precautions. I devised an ingenious plan to transport the items without a hint of detection. For security reasons, I can't tell you how," he said with an apologetic look.

The woman briefly touched her necklace. "You're loading them as six armored vehicles disguised as ordinary garbage trucks," she said with her eyes closed. "Am I not correct?"

The curator whirled to face her. "How did you – "

She smiled. "Don't worry. Your security's fine. Let's just say I have a sixth sense about these things." She continued past him to the limo. "Now, if you'll please excuse me, I really must get over to the museum to set up the exhibition."

**

Sakura carried a plastic fortune in her purse, but did not know how to go about spending it. She remembered it was Mokuba's birthday today, and she wanted to buy something thoughtful, something he'd keep.

_What should I get for him? s_he thought as she wandered down the aisles of a department store. _I don't know him very well, really. … He seems mature for his age, more perceptive and more sensible than most boys I know. Not so … squirrelly. Maybe Kaiba's rubbed off on him. _The thought repulsed her. _Ugh, I hope not. Poor Moki-chan. That arrogant meathead probably takes him for granted, too._

_Kaiba's not important_, she reprimanded herself. _Moki-chan, Moki-chan, Moki-chan. I need to focus on Moki-chan._

Of course, what she really wanted to do was stay in touch with him. Moki-chan was the only person she knew who was still so lightsome, so optimistically idealistic – in a grounded, rational way, of course. But it was better than that – he was still so _pure_, and she admired that. Encountering that kind of juvenescence had been inspiriting.

She tried to imagine Mokuba opening her gift, tried to peer inside with him, hoping for one of those a-ha! moments …

The toy weaponry before her suddenly seemed terribly inappropriate. True, they were only realistic constructs, but that tainted them. They were not for him.

So Sakura purchased quite a few things for Mokuba elsewhere, and she purchased gift wrap, because she liked doing those kind of things by herself.

**

The inane chatter of the students around him caused a wave of disdain and contempt to wash over Seto Kaiba. _What could possibly be more pointless then listening to a lot of geeks aggravate over their grades?_

As he stalked towards his limo, his frown deepened. _I know. Hosting a party for a bunch of runts. I don't see why Mokuba has to associate with those hangers-on he calls friends, especially tonight._

A limousine that was not his pulled up to the school, and Seto's scowl turned into a smirk. "Well, look who's here," he said as the passenger got out. "Sakura, who knew you'd be dumb enough to oversleep and come to school after it's ended? You're even more of a fool than I thought."

Sakura double-checked the contents of her bag. "Don't be retarded. 'Sides, what'd I miss? Finals. As far as I'm concerned, those things are a waste of time and effort." She briefly looked up at him. "And if I'm the stupid one, what does that make you if you're talking to me?"

Seto growled. "Are you accusing me of being a fool?"

She found the package she was looking for. "You said it, not me," she said.

He opened his mouth to respond, but she preemptively interrupted him: "Kaiba, I'd love to stay and watch you catch flies but I've got better things to do and your chauffeur is waiting. Say 'hi' to Sam for me."

Now he was annoyed and bemused. "Who on earth is Sam?"

"He's your limo driver," Sakura said matter-of-factly. "Don't tell me you don't know the names of your own employees." She tightened the grip on her bag. "Well, I'll see you around, rich boy."

And she walked passed him, an amused half-grin on her face. _Man, is it gonna be fun crashing his brother's party tonight._

Seto clenched the handle of his briefcase and got into the limousine. Sam pretended he hadn't heard the exchange and let him sulk.

**

Mr. Watanabe heard someone knocking. "Come in," he said.

When the door opened, he looked up, smiling when he recognized the student. "Hello, Sakura."

**

After the quick stop at the school (she had fulfilled her promise to Mr. Watanabe and shown him the programming behind the HoloCell), Sakura killed the next couple of hours by touring Domino. It used to be part of Tokyo, she learned, until it grew large enough to support itself and decided to break away. But it still existed as an offshoot of the major neighboring city; a large number of the buildings were resorts whose habitants usually spent the day at the more exciting capitol.

In the middle of a town was a small square people used as a meeting place, unimaginatively called Clockwork Square because there was a clock in it. Sakura sat on the edge of the fountain at the center of the square and personalized the journal she had purchased for Mokuba with drawings inside the front and back covers. After some hesitation, she used the pencils she had gotten for him to color them, using "the ends justify the means" as an argument, because they ended up nicer in color.

She hoped he would not mind about the pencils.

When she was finished rewrapping the gifts, Sakura watched the fountain, occasionally throwing a couple of coins into it after a while. She did not wish for anything, but rather, she picked a specific point on the surface of the water to stare at, and she tried to will some of the artificial cascade to toss droplets that would land there. The cloest thing she got was a miniature ripplet from a nearby splash. She sighed. _That always happens._

And as was always the case, as soon as Sakura left, a little drop of water fell – _plip!_ – onto her point of study, but she would never know that.

**

Halfway through his brother's birthday party, Seto heard the intercom system buzz. The nearest unit was on his desk so, grateful for the interruption, he left the festivities to the children and received the message. "What," he said into it before releasing the switch for an answer.

"Kaiba-sama, you have a visitor."

"Who is it."

"Guess," a new voice said.

"_Kuso_," Seto cursed softly. "What are you doing here?" he hissed into the intercom.

"What, Kaiba?" The voice sounded hurt. "No 'Hello, how are you?' I thought we were friends."

"We are not friends," Seto said. "We are acquaintances, and nothing more."

"I'm hurt." The voice was resigned. Then, it continued: "Put your brother on. He's more fun to talk to. And maybe he can cheer me up."

"Why would I want someone to do that, _baka kiku_?"

"Hey. I've been to your house twice and you bother me almost every day at school. Get the name straight: Sakura."

"_Kigiku_."

Mokuba appeared at his brother's side. "Who are you arguing with, niisama?"

"Moki-chan?"

"Sakura!" Mokuba answered delightfully to his brother's displeasure. "Are you here for my party?"

"Yeah, but _someone_ won't let me in. That someone thinks he's been talking to a stupid yellow chrysanthemum when we all know he's been talking to a beautiful little cherry blossom." Mokuba laughed. The voice continued: "Whatever treatment your brother's on, take him off it. It's making him delusional."

"I am not on drugs!" Seto interjected.

"Well then, get on some. Oh, by the way, can I come in? I'm getting tired of talking at a black box and my bag hurts."

_What?_ Seto thought. "No."

"Yes," his brother said at the same time.

"Sirs?" a confused male voice said.

Mokuba looked up at Seto pleadingly. The elder Kaiba frowned and finally jabbed the switch on the intercom. "Let her in."

"Awesome."

"Thanks, niisama!" Mokuba said. He gave Seto – or his leg anyway – a quick hug before hastening to the front door to meet Sakura, leaving him to wonder why he had acquiesced – been overwhelmed, it seemed more like – so easily.

There was no way Sakura could hide her surprise when she entered. "It's very … red," she commented.

"It's my favorite color," Mokuba said as he led her past the settees, which had been rearranged to make room for the inflatable moon bounce room by the pillars closest to the table in the dining room.

"I see." Sakura narrowly dodged a hanging stream of paper lanterns only to walk into a low-hanging banner, upon which the words "Happy Birthday Mokuba!" were flamboyantly printed. Noting the shoes that had stopped before hers, she lifted the banner from over her face, saying, "Don't think ya overdid it, didja, Kaiba?"

"Watch it," Seto said. "Your presence is unwanted as it is."

"Then why'd you let me in?"

Before Seto could respond, Sakura turned to Mokuba. "Where do I put the stuff I got you?"

"Over there," he said as he took her hand and walked with her to the dining room.

To the considerable pile of gifts on the table – Mokuba had invited quite a few of his schoolmates – Sakura added her own wrapped items. Gauging from the various shapes of the other presents, she guessed his peers had purchased action figures and video games, and Sakura doubted briefly the choices she had made at the mall.

"Wow," Mokuba breathed. "You didn't have to get me all of that stuff."

She smiled. "Don't be silly. I owe you years of back-presents."

"You only met me a week ago."

"But it feels like I've known you forever, dear Moki-chan," Sakura said, mussing his hair.

"Hey!" Mokuba cried as he tried to remove her hand.

"Oh, before I forget, open this one last, and all by yourself, 'kay?" she added as she showed him her heftiest gift.

"Why? What's in it?" Mokuba said, promptly taking it and shaking it.

Sakura replaced it on the table. "Tut tut, that's for me to know and for you to find out. When are we having cake?"

Mokuba laughed. "Now, if you want. Everyone else has been here a while, so they're probably hungry, too."

"Cool." She watched the young Kaiba leave to have a few words with some of the staff. Then, bored, she wandered the two rooms available to her – the living room and the ballroom, but she gradually gravitated towards the area between the piano and the stairs left of the fireplace, what she had dubbed earlier as Kaiba's study corner. The papers on the table seemed to indicate that the mogul was always terribly busy, and the books in the case implied a mind dictated by logic and practicality. Sakura was tempted to say heartlessly so – his avoidant disposition and aloof conduct were apparent proof – but then she would not be able to explain the existence of so many personal photo albums on the last shelf. Her gaze wandered, settling finally on the view from a window: a lot of green and sky.

"What are you doing here?" a now familiar voice hissed with ire.

Sakura's left hand jumped. She used it to tuck one of her forelocks behind her ear as she turned around. Seto was standing not three feet in front of her, arms crossed, looking understandably vexed. Sakura grinned. "I think the question is, "What are _you_ doing here?"

"I'm deciding whether I should ask you to leave this place nicely or whether I should sic security on you," Seto said.

His tone conveyed the implied directive clearly, but Sakura cocked her head in feigned perplexity. "When you say 'this place,' do you mean this particular part of your house or the entire residence?" she asked.

Seto's eyes narrowed. "Take a wild guess."

"A wild guess, you say?" Sakura seemed to muse, refusing to take her host seriously at all. "How about this?" she said, taking a good step towards him. "Is that better?"

"You know that's not what I meant," Seto said, his right hand briefly tightening its grip on his upper left arm.

"Of course I do," Sakura said, watching him. "I just like pressing your buttons." This statement caused the right hand to tense again. "I'd keep going," she continued, "but I think I hear Mokuba calling."

Seto's frown deepened. He had heard no such thing and now she was walking away, almost prancing. In ill-temper he sat in the chair at his desk and flicked the paper dragon on the table. It jumped into the air before fluttering to the floor in an absurd semblance of flight.

"There are you are, Sakura," Mokuba said as she rejoined him. "I was just about to go get you; the cake's on the table."

"Goody." Sakura took a seat next to him. Kids filled most of the rest of the chairs but Kaiba was absent, she noted.

"Are you going to make a wish?" a soft-spoken girl on the other side of the Mokuba said. She seemed docile and delicate and perhaps Mokuba's height, but she appeared smaller. Her voice lacked confidence.

"No one does that anymore," a boy with spiked hair said loudly, causing the girl to drop her gaze to the table in shame and Sakura to dislike him immediately. "C'mon, Mokuba, hurry up and blow out the candles so we can have some cake."

"Hold on, Ha-kun. I've never done this before," Mokuba said. Turning to the girl, he continued: "And what should I wish for, Matsuko?"

Matsuko looked up at him shyly. "Whatever you want. Just don't tell us . . . and you have to close your eyes while you do, right before you blow them out," she added.

Mokuba's tone was gentle. "You know all about this, don't you?"

"Mmm," Matsuko nodded. She blushed.

He closed his eyes briefly before blowing out the candles. As he waved away the smoke, Sakura joshed him: "So, what'd ya wish for?"

"He can't say," Matsuko said with a smile. Then she started, as if realizing to whom she was speaking, and stared at the table again.

"Relax, kiddo," Sakura said, mussing her hair. "You're here to have fun, so have fun."

Matsuko looked up at her timidly. "'kay," she said softly.

Seto chose then to reappear, with a camera. He did not linger, however, and wordlessly circumambulated the dining table to take pictures of his brother from various angles. He took no notice of Sakura but stood uncomfortably close to her as took a shot of Mokuba passing a slice a cake to Matsuko, as if she wasn't there. Irritated, Sakura decided to poke him in the side, but Seto caught her wrist before she accomplished this goal, and although she struggled, he did not let go until he decided to leave, which was soon enough.

"That's a little creepy isn't?" Sakura asked of Mokuba while she babied her wrist. _The moron's grip was stronger than I expected,_ she thought.

"What is?"

"Kaiba sneaking around like that." She comforted herself with some cake.

"He was taking pictures, wasn't he?"

"Yeah . . . but what does he do with them?"

"I think he looks at them sometimes, to remind herself."

"Of what?"

But Mokuba was listening to Matsuko, who was whispering something into his ear. When she finished, Mokuba said, "Hey, Sakura, you have cake on your face."

"Really? Where?" she said, dabbing around her mouth with a napkin.

"On you nose," Mokuba said. He tapped her nose with some of the cream he lifted from his cake.

"Sakura gasped. "I cannot believe you just did that!" she cried. Mokuba and Matsuko giggled as she removed the cream.

"Should I do it again?" asked Mokuba.

"No!" Sakura glared at him. "Mokuba Kaiba, I'm gonna get you so good you won't know what hit you."

She heard a strange laugh. It was Ha-kun. "You're an only child, aren't you?" the boy asked.

"What's it to you?" said Sakura.

Ha-kun smiled smugly. "My older sister gave up a long time ago."

After cake, some of the kids went for another round in the moon bounce room before heading home. Seto had the chauffeur drive them home in groups.

"Don't people usually hang around until after you've opened their presents?" Sakura asked.

"Just the ones that care," Mokuba said. "And this is easier for me – it's kind of boring acting surprised when I finish unwrapping another video game," he added quietly.

"What about that one?" said Sakura. She pointed to a large leather case with a bow on it. It was secured with a blood-red ribbon.

"I don't know what that is." Mokuba removed the card from under the bow and passed it to Sakura before proceeding to remove the ribbon.

"'Because you've had your eye on one,'" Sakura read. "That's it. It's not signed or anything."

"It doesn't matter," Mokuba said. "I know who it's from."

Sakura opened her mouth to ask from whom but Mokuba opened the case and nothing came out. She could only gawp wordlessly at the maple bassoon, which was dismantled, yes, but radiated magnificence nevertheless. There was a luster to its woodwork, and the silverwork shone. And though the knew nothing of bassoons, Sakura guessed the games Pucher and Cooper – which were inscribed in fine script on the bell – meant that the instrument Mokuba received would have very good tone and timbre. "It's beautiful," she whispered.

"Yeah. . . . I can't wait to play it," Mokuba said just as softly. "I bet my bro's already got a list of teachers we can go check out this weekend for lessons."

"So, then . . . Kaiba – "

"Who else would it be?" Mokuba gave the bassoon a last look before reluctantly putting it away.

"Mmm," Sakura mused.

"Kigiku, your limo's waiting at the gate," they heard Seto say from his desk.

"For the last time, " Sakura began, "my name is – "

"Are you going to go or not?" Seto interrupted rudely.

Something in Sakura flared up. "Listen, I've got half a mind – "

"That's all you've got."

"And yet it's still considerable compared to yours," Sakura returned. Her tone was kinder when she spoke to the younger brother: "Listen, Moki-chan, I've got a flight to catch in the morning and I realize I haven't finished packing."

"So you hafta go?" he said sadly.

"Yeah, I kinda do."

Mokuba cast about for a reason to delay her leave. "Can't you wait until I open the stuff you gave me?"

Sakura shook her head. "I really have to be going. And besides, I already know you'll like them." When Mokuba looked up at her curiously, she added, "I have a gift for these things. . . . Hey, it's not like you're never gonna see me again."

Mokuba refused consolation: "Oh, it's just I was hoping . . ."

"For what?"

"I . . . nevermind."

She gave him a kiss on the forehead. "Chin up, Moki-chan. I love you, so this goodbye isn't final or anything. . . . Just pester your bro for a plane ticket if you miss me too much, 'kay?"

Mokuba chuckled softly and smiled a small smile. "Yeah. Sure."

Sakura mussed her hair and exited the front door. Making her way down the stairs to the mansion, she heard footsteps and stopped. "What do you want?" she said without turning around.

"I just wanted to assure myself that you really would be gone. Out of my life and everything."

"Yeah, well, you eventually got what you wanted, didn't you? . . . I suppose you're used to it by now." Sakura hesitated before taking her next steps, this time up the stairs. "Actually, I've got a favor to ask, Kaiba."

Seto did not look at her when she reached him but stared into the distance. Out of all the places in the world, he hated standing next to her most of all. "What makes you think I'd grant it?"

She went on: "Take good care of Moki-chan, will you? He's a sweet kid, and I'd hate for him to grow up into someone like you."

His eyes narrowed. He spun to face her, opened his mouth to respond with a cutting remark.

And was startled into speechlessness for the second time in his life by the intensity of her gaze. Her blue eyes stared back into his, seeking to read him, and he could not stand it.

Seto broke direct eye contact, but studied the rest of her face. Her nose was small and straight; her cheekbones were high. The two locks of hair that had escaped her bow rested on her slightly flushed cheeks. Her mouth was also small, and her lips were somewhat full. Her face seemed to be an average face that leaned toward the cute and delicate.

So why was he fixed upon its features?

He abruptly turned away, resuming his gaze over lower Domino with pursed lips.

Sakura joined him. "I thought so. Good night, Kaiba," she said after a moment. She descended the rest of the steps and was gone.


	10. Idle Dreams

Author's Note: "Ikou" is a conjugation of Japanese verb "iku," and it means "let's go!"

I hope you enjoy this penultimate installment.

***

Chapter Ten - Idle Dreams

Seto paused before going back inside. Mokuba was replacing the origami Blue-Eyes on his desk. "It fell down," he said.

"Mmm," Seto murmured as he strode by his brother. From the bookcase he pulled an Asimov title and repaired to the couch in the middle of the living room. The book was well-thumbed, its stories familiar. It would allow his mind to wander.

"Niisama, d'you wanna see the stuff Sakura got me?" Mokuba asked.

"Not really," Seto said without thinking. When he registered Mokuba's silence, he put his book down, saying, "What did she get you?"

Mokuba took a seat next to his brother, toting the presents from Sakura. "She gave me some animal print origami paper, niisama, for my cranes. The ones I make with these 'll look funny, what with the zebra stripes and all . . ."

"Mmm-hmm."

Undaunted by his brother's reticence, Mokuba plowed on: "She also got me a pair of socks. I don't quite know why . . . one says 'left sock' and the other one says 'the other left sock.' They're kind of funny. And there were colored pencils."

"They look like they've been used."

"Yeah," Mokuba said, "but that's okay, because I think I know what she did with them." He passed to his brother the fourth gift.

"She gave you a journal," Seto said flatly, clearly unimpressed. "What are you supposed to do with this?"

"Write in it, I guess. It'd be as if I were writing to her," Mokuba thought aloud. "But that's not important – look inside."

So Seto opened the front cover. "Isn't it beautiful?" Mokuba breathed as his brother wordlessly studied the picture now revealed to him. It scoped a glade within a verdant forest in the springtime with detail Seto did not see often in amateur artwork. But what gripped him was the reclining dragon sprawled across the leaves. It was clearly a Blue-Eyes White Dragon, but unlike any he had ever seen or rendered himself. This Blue-Eyes lacked ferocity; its rough edges had been smoothed. Its gaze was kind; its mouth had the semblance of a smile. Its neck flowed smoothly from the base of its skull to its shoulders, which he could make out because its body was not barrel-like, but sharply ridged upon its spine. Its beautiful wings were folded and its tail curled by its hind legs as it lay there, watching two children, a boy and a girl, realized who the children were.

"That's Sakura and me, I'm pretty sure," Mokuba said. "I mean, they look like us, and that's what we were wearing when she came over to play."

"I see," Seto said, slightly more unhappy more than before. Even now she wouldn't leave him alone.

"There's another one in the back," Mokuba noted.

Seto flipped through the journal – _there are a lot of pages_, he thought – before coming to the second drawing. It seemed to be a partner to the drawing in the front cover; many of their elements were the same. But in this scene dusk had fallen and stars were becoming visible, and everything was darker. The dragon had shifted its left wing slightly to protect from the elements the boy and girl who now dozed under it; their book was in the grass by their feet, lying forgotten. To further ensure the safety of the pair, the faithful Blue-Eyes slept with its neck and head and tail forming a ring around them, that whoever wanted to harm them would have to first get past it.

"I wish I could draw like that," Mokuba said after awhile.

"Mmm."

"I'm gonna go put the rest of the presents away. Thank you for the bassoon, niisama," Mokuba said as he hugged Seto.

His brother only resumed his Asimov.

**

Presently Seto heard his brother bid him good night. He returned the kindness and, realizing there was no logical reason for him to delay sleep any longer, decided he would go to bed, too.

The memory overwhelmed him without warning as he replaced the book on his shelf. Suddenly it was much hotter than it should have been, and humid, but somehow Seto felt used to it. Before him was an old man in linen dyed purple, with white shoulder-length hair. The style in which he wore it reminded Seto of Pegasus; like the deluded madman, he used it to cover the left half of his face. The rest of the man's face was framed by his white moustache and beard, which was trimmed to a point. His visible eye glared at Seto.

Seto realized he was holding someone by the wrist – a girl to judge by the circumference – who was trying to free herself. "Stay," he heard himself say, in kind but slightly overbearing tone, without turning.

"Please?" the girl behind him whispered. And Seto let go, only to realize that had been Sakura's voice begging softly.

As abruptly as he had been whisked away, Seto was back in his living room at his bookcase, holding onto one of its shelves and breathing heavily. _Am I going insane?_ He thought desperately. _Where did that come from!?_

And he thought back to the first instance of the hallucination, when he had captured Sakura's wrist so she wouldn't bother him as he took that picture of Mokuba and that girl. He had immediately shoved it out of his mind after it happened, but here it was again, bent on imposing on his sanity.

"I'm officially losing it," Seto grumbled. As he sighed heavily, he thought he smelled the scent of her perfume, strong and sweet like some spring flower. Although he could not detect it a second time, the idea of spending any more time mucking about in Sakura's . . . fragrant soul-print was enough to put him off staying downstairs and longer and he proceeded to his room, that he might be haunted by nightmares instead.

**

While he had been awake, his draconian tormentors had busied themselves looking for others of their kind to join in the fun. They were successful; Seto had observed six unique attacks during his wild goose chase for cover.

He was in some sort of forest now, a maze-weary mouse for the dragons to toy with until they got bored of watching him run into dead ends and deciding to kill so they could start over. Because he could never really die here.

But neither could he ever win.

The armor with which Seto was equipped, that of the _Lord of Dragons_, was as unhelpful as it was every night, as it would be every night, forever. Its weight slowed him, wore him down faster. It offered little protection when one of the dragons chose to raze his particular patch of forest. So far he had managed to doge each of the attacks, but he was sure his skills at evasion had nothing to do with it.

_They're messing with me_, Seto thought as he leaned against a tree to catch his breath. He threw a glance at the sky, where he could see three dragons – that loathsome _Red-Eyes Black Dragon_ and its new friends, _Baby Dragon_ and _Thousand Dragon_ – lazily riding the thermals and flapping their wings only occasionally. The other three – _Curse of Dragon_, _Koumori Dragon_, and_ Winged Dragon, Guardian of the Fortress_ – were presumably up there as well, somewhere, laughing amongst themselves as he ran himself ragged.

Seto took a deep breath and scanned his surroundings once more but to no avail. His only hope for a temporary reprieve, at least, would be some sort of stream or even a runlet, somewhere even the dragon's fire could do him no harm, but there were only trees and newly demolished forest as far as he could see.

_Theoretically, of course, I could just stand here_, Seto thought. _They won't kill me until they've had their fun. _It was surprising what you could live through.

Until you didn't.

A well-aimed fireball cut short his reflection; _Baby Dragon_ was poking at his prey to move and Seto obliged him. There as no time for thought now; he just ran.

Darts of fire, courtesy of _Curse of Dragon_, torched the trees just ahead of him and the gusts of _Koumori Dragon_'s wings fanned the flames in his direction. Seto cut right –

And heard moving water. _Sanctuary. Refuge_. Seto thought he was running all out before, but somehow he managed to shift into a higher gear.

Suddenly the trees before him burst into flames, and he barely managed to catch himself from rushing headlong into them. The _Thousand Dragon_ rumbled and chuffed with laughter when Seto stumbled as he took off in a new direction.

He was tired now; the adrenaline in his body had run its course. He was not surprised when _Koumori Dragon_ erected a second fall of flames; _Winged Dragon_, a third; and _Baby Dragon_, the fourth. Above him, _Red-Eyes_ and _Curse of Dragon_ screeched mockingly, and Seto sank to his knees. He closed his eyes.

Out of nowhere came a thunderous roar from a seventh dragon that elicited protesting shrieks and bellows from the others. Seto dared a glimpse upwards in time to see a massive stream of energy cut the sky and cause his tormentors to fall back.

Seto saw the seventh dragon as it flapped its wings to put out the fires around him – it was the almighty _Blue-Eyes White Dragon_. With its special Neutron Blast attack, it incinerated just enough trees to clear an area that would allow it to land comfortably and touched down. Forgetting everything but the magnificent creature before him, Seto approached the dragon in a sort of trance.

"That's a funny get-up you've got on," he heard someone call down to him.

The taunt returned Seto to the dream reality. He blinked and suddenly he could see Sakura astride the dragon, straddling it where its neck met its body. "You again!" he hissed. "What are you doing here?"

"Trying to save you, but you don't look happy to see me, so I think I'll change my mind," Sakura said pertly. "Come on, Hakuko."

Seto was about to let her go. But vivid images of his body being divided into shares for the six dragons to play with before whatever they ended up doing with him flooded his mind. "No, wait," he said.

"Do I have to?" Sakura asked. "The Winged Ones that were after you look pretty ticked off. I think they're about to rush us."

Seto averted his gaze. "Take me," he mumbled.

"What was that? I couldn't hear you."

Seto glared at her. "I said, take me. With you," he repeated overly loudly.

"I didn't hear the magic word," Sakura said in a sing-song tone. "Did you, Hakuko?"

The great beast shook its head.

_In the name of – _Seto thought. _I can't believe this._ "Please," he added finally.

Sakura seemed to consider him. Then she extended a hand: "Sure, since you asked so nicely."

Seto grasped her wrist, she took his, and together they pulled. He pushed off the ground and the _Blue-Eyes White Dragon_ aided him as he took a seat behind Sakura.

"Before we go, could you take off that helmet and weird cape-thing?" she said. "They kind of creep me out."

_Heaven knows I would like to_, Seto thought. He had already tried many times before, in other dreams. "I can't."

"Don't be stupid," Sakura said. She turned around and, after tracing the jaw of the helmet with a hand, removed it from Seto's head. Surprised, Seto only sat wordlessly as she ran her fingers through his hair, returning it to its original style. She just as easily got rid of his cape and rubbed his shoulders. "There, I bet that feels better."

He stared at her. "How did you – "

"Okay, Hakuko," Sakura said, facing forward again. "Ikou!"

And the dragon rose. Seto cried out as he nearly lost his balance. He recovered some of it by finding an uneasy grip on the bit of dragon between him and Sakura.

"Oh, you might want to hold on," Sakura added. "Y'know, if you like not falling."

"To what?" Seto said peevishly.

"To me, of course."

"To you?" Seto repeated dumbly.

"No, to that cloud over there," Sakura said sarcastically. "Unless you want to become the Amazing Human Raindrop, you'd better put your arms around my waist." When she felt on her waist his hands holding on only tentatively, she gave a frustrated sigh. "Don't be such a prude!" she said and took his hands by the wrists, folding them across her abdomen, as if his arms were seatbelts.

Seto moved forward, which was slightly more or less awkward for him, depending on how one thought about it; but Seto didn't know what he thought anymore. Turning his face away from her and her perfume, he asked crossly, "Well, what are you holding on to?"

"Hakuko," she said simply.

Seto was about to ask Sakura how she could when he couldn't when he heard several angry screeches from behind them. "They're back," Seto said, his voice betraying his panic.

"Don't worry," Sakura chided. "Just lean forward and enjoy the ride."

"But then I – " Seto began, balking at the physical intimacy.

"Do we have to go through this again?" Sakura interrupted. "If I don't mind, why should you?"

Seto gave up and did as he was told. Beneath him he could feel the _Blue-Eyes_'s muscles tense as it put on a small burst of speed, just enough to stay out of range of its pursuers. He glanced behind him; the dragons chasing him had assumed vee-formation, with _Curse of Dragon_ and _Red-Eyes Black Dragon_ at the fore. They signaled with their tails and the six launched their assaults as one.

Hakuko dodged the attacks easily, rising, veering, dipping as it saw fit. Seto marveled at the sensation of open-air flight, though his grip did tighten more than once in alarm.

The dragon keened. "What does it want?" Seto asked.

"For information, Hakuko's a she," Sakura said, "and she would appreciate you're not referring to her as an object, but as the beautiful, loveable creature she is."

"How do you know it's a she?"

"'cause she told me."

Seto sighed. "Fine. What does she want?" he said again.

"She wants to show them what a real attack looks like, don't you Hakuko, you vain thing?" Sakura cooed. When Hakuko whined assertively, Sakura patted her neck. "Go for it."

Hakuko made a happy noise and did a little leap in the air, causing Seto to tighten his grip again. He did not loosen it, as the dragon made a vertical U-turn with a one-eighty-degree turn in the middle so that her riders would remain on top. The maneuver brought them face-to-face with a suddenly spineless company of dragons. The _Blue-Eyes_ grinned.

"Hakuko! Burst Stream!" Sakura commanded.

The dragon opened her mouth to amass energy into one powerful assault. It gathered quickly and Hakuko roared as she released it on the company.

Seto had to close his eyes, the Burst Stream as so bright. All he heard were shrieks, some angered, but mostly fearful. He reopened his eyes when he heard Sakura cooing again: "Oh, good job, Hakuko! That was wonderful! Who's the bestest dragon in the whole wide world ever?"

"They're gone," Seto murmured. There was something like awe in his voice.

"Of course they are," Sakura said. "Weren't you listening to me while I was praising Hakuko? No one can touch her. Oh, and you can let go now."

"Hmm?" Seto looked down and realized he was still holding onto Sakura's waist quite tightly. "Oh," he said.

"It's fine," Sakura said.

They watched the world turn beneath them.

"Why are you here?" Seto said after a while.

Sakura laughed. "It's your dream, isn't it? Shouldn't you know?"

"Just give me straight answer," said Seto impatiently. When she said nothing, he prompted: "Well?"

"What do you think?" said Sakura.

"I – " Seto began, but then everything went black and he was falling.

**

Seto awoke, still falling during the brief moment before he realized where he was.

He sat up and stared at the clock on his bedside dresser. It was only two in the morning.

Seto sighed loudly and lay back down. He ran his fingers through his hair and thought miserably, _It's going to be a long night._


	11. Epilogue Life Goes On

Epilogue – Life Goes On

It had been two days since Sakura left Domino. During those two days Seto had spent as little time as possible at his mansion home, opting instead to spend extra hours at his office in KaibaCorp. Mokuba as there with him, to keep him company. While his brother kept his nose buried in reports, he whiled away the time with homework, origami, and television. He was also writing quite a bit in the journal Sakura gave him.

That evening, Seto had decided to take the suggestion from his business strategist, Gates, seriously and was exploring Dungeon Dice Monsters through simulation on his computer. The game seemed simple enough, but it relied too much on luck for his liking. He supposed one could master throwing dice as the creator of the game, Devlin, maintained he'd done, but really there was nothing better than a good chess game, or a duel.

Mokuba turned on the television; he'd finished his homework. There was a news program in progress; the current report featured pictures of a new exhibit at Domino Museum. A woman's voice narrated: ". . . fans are especially invited. This world premier showcases newly discovered and never-before-seen artifacts chronicling the history of Egyptian games. In ancient times, these games were not just played for fun, as they are today. Everyone from peasants to princes waged dueling games against each other for land, wealth, but especially for power. These games were epic battles. I've unearthed relics that suggest the great pharaoh himself may have competed in a game against a force that threatened to destroy the entire world. Of course, this is still speculation, and further studying needs to be done."

Mokuba turned to his brother. "We have to check out the exhibit, Seto. It sounds awesome."

Seto adjusted several parameters in the simulation and started it again. "I'm running a company, Mokuba. I don't have time for mummies and pharaohs."

Mokuba resumed folding his origami crane. It was his eighty-sixth. "Oh. I thought you'd be interested in this kind of thing. Whatever."

The phone rang and Seto picked it up: "Kaiba."

_Author's Note: Thus ends my first true venture into fan fiction. I hope you enjoyed the journey, rough and crude though it may be in this first formation. Please be on the lookout for the rewrite, entitled "Dalliance," which, in addition to having a more matured writing style, adds more layers to the plot and provides deeper characterizations._

_As I bid you good leave, I humbly request your remarks. I would love to read any comments, good or bad; criticisms, positive or negative; and suggestions, in good faith or in jest, because you, my dear readers, deserve my unswerving dedication to improve my writing._

_May Ra be with you._

_~ Shield and Sword ~  
_


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